Through Raven, she found out that the building was formerly owned by Shaw, was on an isolated island off the west coast somewhere in between Canada and USA, and they had their own generators that provided them with electricity, water and heating. Groceries were bought once a week when a handful of them would be able to take the private jet to the mainland for that purpose. There was a roster apparently, similar to the one that she had drawn up for Charles in the early few weeks for the lodgers in the Xavier mansion, which dictated who was up for certain duties. There wasn't any dish duty because the ultra-modern building had an electrical dish washer. If anyone had to go to the mainland for any other reason, they had to inform Erik and bring along one more team member, just in case.
She also introduced her to the rest of the team, Emma included, as they toured the house. She met the original team formed by Shaw: Emma, Azazel, Riptide and Angel (who used to be part of Charles' team while they were based at the CIA location). Save for Emma, the rest were quite friendly towards her. She could tell that Angel especially was intrigued by her, because she had also figured out that she was their leader's girlfriend and was sizing up the situation and her.
Emma was cold, as expected, but still polite nonetheless.
After that, she met the two new members, Jason and a young boy named Toad. They seemed glad to have another newcomer on board, and Jason was exceptionally charming.
"He's quite a flirt. Be careful Magneto doesn't get jealous." Raven warned discreetly.
She could only smile at that comment and wonder to herself, is he capable of that? Their relationship was still in its infancy stage in her opinion, and besides the initial rockiness brought about by the Cuban crisis, everything else had been plain sailing.
Raven and her ate a light supper in the kitchen without the rest and Raven further explained that unlike in the Xavier household, the team only had mandated group meals twice a week. The older members (namely, Azazel, Emma and Erik) seem to prefer to stick to themselves and avoid their younger colleagues' chatter. Raven liked hanging out with Angel but she admitted it was mainly because of the past history while they lived briefly at the CIA base.
She felt extremely exhausted after that meal, and then realised that it was past midnight. Raven walked her back to her room and said goodnight to her before retiring to bed herself.
She could hear the sound of running water in the bathroom next to her room and she knew that he was back. Raven had told her that he would usually be up until late at night strategising in his study room with the older team mates. He would always be trying to find out about attacks against mutants so that the team could protect and rescue those mutants. In a way, that ideology was consistent with Charles. It was the fact that he would go a step further to hurt the human perpetrators that made him different from her brother.
She changed into her nightclothes and wondered if she should disturb him whilst he was getting ready for bed. However, she also felt that it was only polite to let him know that she was back and about to sleep herself. How they should be carrying on their relationship at that location was still a mystery to her. He talked about keeping up with appearances as a leader previously, so she knew that he would be cold towards her in front of his team.
She knocked on the door to the bathroom. He spoke to her in German, "Come in Charis" and she did. He had just stepped out of the shower and had a robe on. He looked slightly tired but smiled warmly at her, dropping his entire 'I am the leader' façade.
"Raven just left and I am going to bed soon. This is a nice place. You've finished your work?" she said while squeezing some toothpaste onto her toothbrush.
"Yes I have, thanks for asking. I know it's quite a lot for you to absorb now, so I won't say too much tonight. We can leave that all for tomorrow morning instead."
She nodded as she finished brushing her teeth. He was waiting for her in the bathroom and held his hand out to reach for hers.
Seeing her hesitation, he said with a chuckle, "You don't have to worry about my other self…I am always Erik in these rooms. Come on, I'll show you my room."
…
His room in the Brotherhood's base looked almost the same as the one he had in her former home. He had furnished it in the same way and she noticed the same books stacked neatly at the nightstand.
He let her look around for a while before he started kissing her neck and she knew what it was that he really wanted. It had been some time since they were last intimate and she responded to his kisses. They ended up in his bed and fell asleep together after reaching the height of their passion.
When she woke up the next morning, for a moment she thought she was back at the mansion in his room like in the past. He had also slept in her room several times but after an incident which nearly led to Raven walking in on them, she told him that she preferred to sleep over rather than vice versa. He obliged her and she would always sneak back to her room in the mornings after she had hugged him and said goodbye to him. The rest of the day, they had to keep their interactions to a minimum to avoid gossip amongst the other lodgers of the house.
It was funny to her though, how she had to keep a straight face if she had to ask him any question relating to the running of the household in front of the others. She knew he was fairly amused as well from the way his eyes twinkled with mischief each time he had to answer her. There was even once when they had no choice but to sit next to each other at dinner and halfway through, she felt his foot nudging her leg, and when the rest were laughing about a joke that Charles was telling them, he even had the audacity to place his hand on her thigh. She had to keep a straight face throughout all that and could only rebuke him when they were alone in his room again.
She smiled at the thought of all those fond memories and he must have sensed that she was awake because he was turning towards her and using his free hand to caress her arm.
"Good morning…I really missed you all this while…" he said while he inhaled the scent of her hair.
"I missed you too," she said with a smile as she turned to embrace him. They stayed in bed for a while, talking about various things which happened in their lives the past few months.
"I need to get ready for official matters soon. We'll also need to discuss your role in this team. All right for you to meet me in my study room after breakfast?" he told her eventually, looking slightly apologetic.
"You're not having breakfast with me?"
"I usually take my breakfast in my study so I can keep up with the news and all other matters that would affect the team."
"Ok," she said, trying her best to hide her disappointment.
"Like I told you last night, I am myself only in these rooms. Outside, I have to be the team leader or 'the boss' as some of the team prefer to think of me and do things professionally. Things are run more formally here as you may have observed."
"I understand. Can I refer to you as 'Sir' instead of your code name though? I find that extremely bizarre to use on a frequent basis unfortunately."
He burst out laughing at her remark and replied, "You can still use my first name. I don't mind that. Just don't be mad at me when I am more business-like in speaking with you in front of the others."
"Yes I can accept that…because it's better than trying to keep a straight face while you grope me when you think that people are not watching." She said with reference to the last time he did that.
He laughed again and said, "Good… come on, let's get ready to go downstairs."
As she got out of bed, she asked, "You're not bothered that the rest all say that I am your girlfriend?"
"No. That is the truth isn't it? I just need to show that I'm not partial to you with regards to team matters just because you are my girlfriend."
She knew it seemed silly but it she felt good just hearing the word "girlfriend".
…
AN: Thanks for reading up to here so far. Would appreciate some reviews too, just so I know what you think about this and hopefully feel encouraged to write new stuff in future. I've actually finished writing the entire story but am proof-reading again and re-writing several chapters just so the story flows better.
