He paid a visit to Trask Industries as soon as he returned to the United States. After making the relevant tweaks to the Sentinel prototypes which were going to be used at the White House ceremony the next few days, he went back to the Pentagon to retrieve his anti-telepathy helmet.

His plans had been smooth sailing so far, but he feared that the next step in his plans may not be as effortless especially if Charles had regained his powers. He wasn't sure if Charissa or Logan had managed to persuade Charles to stop his spine medication by then. Hence, he opted to go to the Xavier mansion only with his helmet on and in the early hours of the day while it was still dark, when all were asleep so as to avoid fighting with any of them in the midst of getting Charissa out of the house.

He found her easily in her bedroom and startled her in her sleep. She wasn't keen to leave, as he had expected, so he had no choice but to use his powers on her.

Manipulating the metal in her room to bind her legs and arms, he carried her out of the premises. It wasn't easy to harden his heart towards her and resort to such means, but he rationalised that it was for her own good, and that she wasn't in the right frame of mind to make a decision on this.

She had screamed for Charles but by the time Charles and Hank managed to reach her room, they had levitated to a good distance away. He knew that Charles had indeed regained control of his powers when she and Charles had communicated briefly via telepathy on their way out. Whatever it was that she told Charles seemed to assure Charles that there was no need for a fight to return her to the mansion. Charles should know better that he would never hurt her.

Inside their dark looking hotel room, he couldn't help but scrutinise her every move, in case she decided to run away. It annoyed her somewhat and she articulated that there was no need to watch her like a hawk because she had no resources to escape.

He was irritated by her remark and explained why she needed his protection. The last ten years had not been easy for him, so all that he was currently doing was for her and her future.

Unfortunately, that was the straw which broke the camel's back because she argued back, "I may not remember the past, but I can still think straight. I've also been thinking that there has to be a good and valid reason to explain the very fact that I ran away from you, even though I told you I loved you and was pregnant with your baby. And I am guessing that the reason is to save our child and me from the path of destruction that you seem fond of walking on. So please do not tell me about how rotten your life had been the past ten years. I don't even have any memories of what happened before those ten years."

She went to bed after saying her piece, and he knew that she was incensed. Not knowing what else to do in those circumstances, he just sighed in defeat and went to rest as well.

He found her screaming aloud in her sleep shortly thereafter, and pulled her closer to him to calm her down. Thankfully she didn't pull away and being in his embrace did soothe her. He missed holding her.

"Don't leave me again." He whispered while kissing the back of her head.

She turned to face him and begged with tears in her eyes, "Please give up your vendetta Erik. I will stay with you always if you do."

While he was tempted to give in to her, he reminded himself not to lose sight of the bigger picture and abandon the war simply upon her request. He didn't know how to make her understand his position, so he merely sighed in frustration and kept silent.

She continued her persuasion, attempting to vocalise Logan's other aim in travelling back to the past, to change his and her future as well. On the plane to Paris he had told her that in Logan's future, she had disappeared after being rescued. Now, she was making the leap in her head that his future self must have hoped that that would be averted, by having Logan pass on the message to him in 1973.

He didn't think she was wrong to assume that, just that he had already made some of his own contingency plans to prevent her from running away again.

"Let's not discuss this anymore. We have a long day ahead tomorrow as well as a flight to catch. Goodnight." He told her stubbornly and she relented.

Daylight came quickly and he brought her (without any resistance on her part) to the airport, to fly to Washington D.C. He held onto her hand and deep inside him, he wished that they were there on happier terms but she seemed bent on defying him.

He also didn't know what to say to her, and started talking aloud instead, like an old fool. Indeed, love was making him behave very foolishly.

"If I told you to stay at a particular location and wait for me to return, would you attempt to leave instead?" he asked aloud before continuing, "I don't like to make you my prisoner, but you simply won't listen and understand how dangerous the situation really is for us. Look at what happened to you when you ran away from me the last time. If not for your abilities, you would be dead like the rest of our team."

"Stop treating me like a child." She retorted.

After they had checked into a hotel in Washington D.C., he endeavoured to be nicer towards her and asked if she was hungry. However, she still refused to make eye contact and rejected his attempt to make peace.

Feeling hurt, he lowered his pride then, to plead with her in his most gentle tone to stop fighting with him.

That worked. She asked whether they had fought often in the past and the conversation following that was better than earlier because he found himself being able to articulate his position. It wasn't so simple a matter, because by giving up the fight and letting the humans win, he would lose her as well.

She finally understood but still asked to go back to Charles. Not only could Charles help heal her mind with his powers back, but Charles could also protect and hide her if need be. At that moment, she only wanted peace in her life.

Peace. That was what she had told him more than a decade ago, when they lived together at the Brotherhood homebase. It was an odd feeling for him to hear those words again, as though she had not lost her memories.

She cleverly held onto his hand while speaking, so his temper would be controlled. He also managed to think rationally and agreed with her. She could go to Charles for help after he had finished with his matters in Washington D.C.

They had lunch and chatted about other various topics while eating. He wanted to enjoy her company without having to think about the future.…

They also went out for a walk thereafter, mainly because he needed to look around the area to prepare himself for the launch of the Sentinels the next day. Unfortunately, she developed a headache and he had to bring her back to their hotel room. It was obvious to him that the headaches were a result of Trask giving her electric shock treatments every afternoon while she in captivity.

Thinking about that incensed him. Tomorrow he would show them who the superior being was.

Sensing his fury, she tried to diffuse the situation by asking about how he had been rescued from the Pentagon by the rest.

His reply amused her, and she asked, "Do you think our child could be a mutant like us?"

He paused feeling poignant, which made her apologise.

"No need for apologies… If there's a need for that, I should be the one apologising. If I had taken more time to listen to your needs, if I could put aside my hate and anger back then, you wouldn't have left and we wouldn't be wondering whether our child had been born and where he is now. You told me that Hank had helped conduct a few tests on you, and he felt that there was a high chance the baby could be a mutant too."

At that point, she made him promise that if he ever found their child and their child was happy with his/her adopted family, he should leave things be and let the child to choose a path of his/her own.

It seemed fair so he agreed.

"Thank you Erik. I'm also sorry that you and I can't work things out…. Maybe when I remember my past, things may change between us."

"No it won't. You were right when you surmised that you had left me because I refused to give up my fight. And I'm sorry that I can't give that up. I do believe that if I do, all of us will be killed by humanity because they are afraid of us. You're too important to me, and even if it means not having you by my side, I'd rather have that than to know that you're being hurt."

She looked at him sympathetically at that moment, and embraced him, probably thinking that he would feel better. One thing led to another and he soon found himself in bed with her. For ten years, he had missed the touch and feel of her body against his. She seemed to remember her former feelings for him then, and even if she didn't, he wasn't perturbed by that and still confessed to her (at the end) that he loved her.