It was late afternoon and Regan had some more work to do in the greenhouse. It seemed it had been a while since there was a gardener here at the mansion, some of the plants were beyond hope, but most she had been able to save with a little bit of love.

Regan unlocked the door and stepped inside the warmth of the greenhouse. It was actually getting too hot for the plants in there, so she left the door open a crack to let in some fresh cool air from outside. She made her way over to the large table that was set up to enjoy the view of the city while she worked. She grabbed her dark green apron off of the hook on the wall by the table and put it on over her light green tank top and dark blue jeans so she wouldn’t get her clothes dirty and got ready to work.

Deciding to start with watering the vegetable garden first, Regan grabbed the watering can from under the table. She walked over to the large basin sink and turned on the water and started to fill up the watering can. Humming a little tune softly, she waited until it was finished and then shut off the water and hoisted up the heavy can. She headed over to the vegetable garden and started to water the plants.

Butterfly had gotten done talking to Melissa and was trying to now find her way back to the apartment. She had already eaten her carrots and celery and parsnips and was quite satisfied. She started walking down the street and realized that she didn't know where she was at all. She walked and walked and became more and more anxious. It was such a big city and all she was trying to do was get back to the apartment. She started to panic and became slightly disoriented. She sat down on a bench close to the sidewalk and put her head in her hands trying so hard to figure out what she was gonna do. Her brother wasn't there to help her and she couldn't go back to Melissa. She had walked so much that she had no way of being able to re-find her.

"Just great. I'm freaking lost." she said to herself. She got angry at herself and kind of scared considering the neighborhood that she was in. She started to cry a little out of anger and she tensed up from all the anxiety. She was so upset that she didn't even feel herself change into her butterfly form. Next thing she knew, she looked down and she was hovering about the bench.

"Well, might as well take advantage of this while I can." she thought. She flew around until she came to a greenhouse. She realized the door was cracked and flew in. It sure was warm She kinda liked it and decided that if she was lost, then at least she should be warm and lost. When she came in, she saw someone working. She could see that they had bright read hair and was covered in fur, white with green stripes, like a tiger. "Well, whoever they are. They sure are pretty." she thought. From the hair style, she could tell that they were female. She just decided to watch and sorta hide amongst the plants. She fluttered to a few that didn't look like they were dead yet and tried to "act" like a butterfly. Whatever that meant. As she watched, she saw the woman turn around and saw that she had a watering can. She walked over to what looked like a vegetable garden.

"Whew. Thank God she didn't come over here and drown me in water. Although these plants really do need it. At least they aren't out in the freezing cold." she thought to herself, still watching and wondering who the other person was and where in the world she was.

Regan hummed happily as she worked her way around the vegetable garden with the watering can and gave it a good soaking. “There you go my lovelies, you were all so parched.” she said softly to the plants with her sweet Irish voice before heading back to the basin sink to refill the can. Once again once it was full she hauled the heavy can out of the sink and started to water some of the other plants that were scattered around the greenhouse.

Coming up to a group of plants in the corner that needed some water as well, Regan noticed a beautiful purple and blue butterfly sitting on one of the leaves. She leaned over to get a better look at it and smiled softly, “Well look what we have here. Hello there little one, I see you found a nice warm place to spend your winter. I need to water these plants here, I wonder if you’ll let me move you some place a little safer.” Regan slowly brought her clawed, furry hand up to the leaf and tried to gently get her hand under its tiny legs so it would crawl onto her hand, “I promise I won’t hurt you, and I won’t touch your wings little one.” Regan had read about butterflies in her “Father’s” Library, she knew that they had powder on their wings which let them fly and if she touched them she would ruin that powder and the poor butterfly would never fly again. “Come on now, hop on and I’ll put you on some nice calla lilies where you’ll be safe.”

Butterfly watched as the furred woman bustled around the greenhouse watering the vegetables and hummed. She seemed like such a good natured person. It was nice to find people like her in the world. When she had turned to find Butterfly on the leaf, she smiled at her niceness and politeness. And she was very intrigued that she knew a lot about butterflies. She seemed nice enough and when she extended her clawed furry hand to Butterfly and said that she would move her to another plant while she watered these, Butterfly walked onto her hand and let her place her somewhere else. "Thank you" she said kinda quietly, wanting to be polite and yet still wanting to watch what was going on.

Watching the little butterfly carefully as it walked onto her hand, Regan smiled. Her ears twitched as she heard someone say “thank you” though there was no one else in the greenhouse. Standing up slowly so that the butterfly wouldn’t be knocked off her hand by a sudden movement, Regan looked around outside on the grounds. There was no one that she could see, but then again her hearing was very good; maybe there was someone in the distance or out of view outside talking to someone else.

Shrugging it off, Regan moved slowly over to her work bench where she had placed the several calla lilies that she had repotted the day before. She carefully brought her hand up to one of the large leaves and waited for the butterfly to move off her hand. “Here you go little one, you will be safe here to enjoy the afternoon sunshine.” She used her index finger of her other hand to gently nudge the butterfly forward onto the leaf so she could continue getting her work done.

After Butterfly went and walked onto the furry hand, she was carefully brought over to the calla lilies and nudged off. She smiled when she was told to enjoy the afternoon sunshine. She slowly fluttered her wings to gain warmth all over her.

She watched as the furry woman went back to work. She decided that she wanted to make herself more known to the woman. She could tell that she had heard her when she said thank you earlier. Butterfly went and flew over to the furry woman and landed on her shoulder. She watched her slightly and then said "Hi, what's your name? I like you and think you're nice and very pretty. I'm the butterfly you have been so nice to. I really enjoyed your humming as well."

Regan ensured that the butterfly was placed safely on her calla lilies before heading back to the watering can to continue watering the plants. She moved gracefully through the greenhouse, working her way to all of the plants that needed to be watered. Suddenly the little butterfly landed on her shoulder and, started to talk to her? Was the heat in the greenhouse getting to her?

Unsure what was going on, Regan looked at the butterfly on her shoulder. “Ummm, hello? I’m Regan, thank you for the compliments.” Regan looked a little puzzled and tilted her head to the side. “Am I really talking to a butterfly?” She asked as she looked around the greenhouse once more to see if one of the mutant children was playing a practical joke on her.

"You're Welcome. I just thought I'd tell you so because there aren't very many nice people like you in the world." When Regan tilted her head and looked puzzled, Butterfly laughed a little and said, "Yes you're talking to a butterfly. That's my name by the way. I'm a mutant like you too. My powers allow me to change into a butterfly."

"I stumbled across this greenhouse when I was trying to find my way back to my apartment and got lost. Other than knowing I'm in a greenhouse, I have no idea where I am. This city is so big and hard to navigate through. Maybe when you get done, could you help me?"

Regan was quite flattered by the compliments that Butterfly was giving her. She was just being herself, doing her best to treat all creatures with respect. “Thank you again, you are too kind.” Glad to find out that Butterfly was also a mutant and that Regan wasn’t losing her mind, she laughed. “Well it’s nice to meet you Butterfly, I love your colors, you are a very pretty butterfly.”

She listened intently as Butterfly explained her situation. “Oh well I can tell you that you are at Xavier’s School for the Gifted. It’s a giant mansion for mutants. I can certainly try and lend you a hand, I am not overly familiar with the city as I do not go out into the public, but I can try to get you to a more familiar area if we travel through the woods.”

"Thank you" she said to Regan complimenting her colors. Butterfly listened to Regan speak and tell her about the school. "There's a school for mutants? I mean what goes on around here? What do you teach?" she asked. When Regan said that she didn't travel out in public much and that she could try to help if traveling through the woods, Butterfly nodded her head and told Regan that she would very much appreciate any help that she could give her. "I'm kinda curious about this school now. Could you show me around before you take me through the woods?" asking Regan. There was no harm in asking, was there? She could always say no if she wanted.

Regan smiled and gave Butterfly a nod, “Yes, it’s a school for mutants. They teach the basics that any school would teach, but they also teach mutants how to control their powers and use them safely.” Regan chuckled and shook her head when Butterfly asked her what she taught at the school. “I don’t teach anything, I’m just the gardener and groundskeeper here at the mansion, though I suppose I could teach people how to grow plants if they would like to learn.”

Regan gave her little friend another soft smile, “I can show you around the basic areas of the mansion if you would like. It is a pretty nice place, I live here myself. There are some children that don’t live here but do attend classes and training sessions here at the school.” Regan said as she grabbed a basket and started to remove some of the ripe vegetables from the plants in the garden.

"Wow, that's pretty interesting. I'd love to see what you can show me. As a matter of fact I might need to take a few lessons from them in Power Controlling 101" she said with a laugh.

"And you do a good job with keeping up the greenhouse. I can tell by the way you work and give attention to the plants. Speaking of which, those vegetable sure do look good." she said with a smile. She thought the school would be an interesting place and she never turned down the chance to learn something new. Especially when it was with something like her powers. "So what kind of activities do they have here for training one's powers and for fun?"

Regan laughed with Butterfly with her comment. “I take it you don’t have much control over your powers then do you?” She smirked and picked off a few more ripe vegetables before setting the basket back down on the work bench.

“Thanks Butterfly, that’s nice to hear. I’ve only taken over the greenhouse in the last week or so, but I really enjoy it. The plants were really rough when I got here, but they seem to be perking up now.” She smiled and carefully took off her apron so she wouldn’t knock Butterfly off her shoulder. She hung it on its little hook by the table and picked up the basket of vegetables. “Ready to go inside?” she asked warmly.

"Not really. I try, but I don't exactly understand them completely. But I'd like to control them." when Regan asked about her powers. She agreed when Regan talked about the plants perking up. "They sure did get a nice person to take care of them though."

Butterfly tried to move out of the way as Regan took her apron off and when asked if ready to go inside, Butterfly replied with an excited "Yes!" Although she kinda hoped that she would change back to her human self sometime soon so that she could actually walk around and not have to fly or rely on Regan to carry her around as much. Or it might be okay that she stayed in her butterfly form that way she could eavesdrop and no one know she was there.

“Well I’m sure that you could register for the control classes if you’d like. You would have to check with the admitting desk to find out more about them or how to sign up.” Regan said in reply to Butterfly. “I’m glad you like the greenhouse and once again you are too kind. You are a pretty nice butterfly yourself, this has been the best conversation I’ve ever had with a butterfly.” She said with a giggle.

Grabbing the basket of vegetables off of the table Regan looked at Butterfly and smiled. “Ok, hang on tight. I don’t want to knock you off my shoulder as I walk.” Making sure that Butterfly was alright, she headed to the door with Butterfly and the vegetables in tow. Heading out into the cold air, Regan shielded Butterfly with her furry hand from the wind until it had died down enough for her to turn and lock the door to the greenhouse. Shielding Butterfly once again, Regan quickly walked them to the front door and slipped them inside.