Stopping _xmovement with mouseover

Sorry, I’ve searched and searched, but no luck - here’s my question:
I want ac MC to move along an X axis as I roll over certain buttons. And, I want to to end to the right of the button, so I need an offset or an actual X location. I’ve created an mc to contain the entire menu, then each button and one mc to move along the x axis.
I know how to make an mc follow a mouse, but I don’t know how to declare where the MC will stop in relation to an object or how to make it move slowly toward that object with a rollover command. I was able to create the following:
on(rollOver) {
this.mc._x = this.mc.xvalue = _root._xmouse + 2;
} // but that only makes the object jump to a point
I want to be able to dedicate that desired object+2 as the new location for my mc and I want my mc to move to that location, not jump.
I’m sure I’ve complicated this for myself. I appreciate any help. :rd: