Erik had always been an early riser. It was something which had been instilled into him since a young age. He found himself waking up from the little amount of sleep which he had managed in to see the sunlight streaming through the curtains in the early morning. He pushed himself to stand up, looking over to the bed which Grace slept on.
He had to shake his head and roll his eyes in disbelief as he saw the young woman. She had managed to have a fight with the covers in the middle of the night. One bare leg hung out the covers, resting over the edge of the bed whilst one hand dangled by the bedside table.
But she somehow managed to look peaceful. Erik didn't know how that was. He dared to adjust the trousers on his legs along with the jumper he wore before he moved to the bed.
"Grace," he nudged her on the shoulder.
She snorted and grunted at him waking her up. She hadn't slept so well in a week or so. She didn't want to get up and go to some mutant Division X with Charles and Erik. She wanted to carry on sleeping until it was all over.
"Grace, you need to get up. We'll be leaving soon."
"Eurgh," she complained, finally opening her eyes as Erik moved into her bathroom, intent on washing his face and feeling the cold water against his skin. He kept quiet as he heard Grace roll out of bed and trudge around the room. She gathered some new clothes to wear, brushing past Erik as he left the bathroom and she went in to shower and change.
The metal bender heard the knock on the door and made his move to open it. Charles stood there; smartly dressed in a new suit as he nodded to the new man he had met and smiled softly.
"Good morning, Erik," he said. "I was under the impression that this was Grace's room."
"It is," Erik agreed, holding the door open to allow Charles to enter. "I slept on the couch to make sure the red mutant didn't appear. We don't want another repeat of the boat, do we?"
"No. We do not. And where is Grace now?"
"She's in the shower," Erik nodded to the closed bathroom door. He took a seat on the end of her unmade bed whilst Charles folded his arms and stood in the middle of the room.
Grace remained brushing her teeth as she heard Charles and Erik speak of her from behind the door. She did her best not to eavesdrop, not too sure whether or not she wanted to listen to what they had to say about her. She turned the shower on and climbed in. She heard her father's name mentioned and winced, allowing the water to run over her shoulders again.
She squeezed the ends of her hair together and allowed it to hang over her back as she thought of everything that was about to happen.
That was the bit which was beginning to worry her.
...
"You need to eat something."
Grace kept quiet as she moved into the foyer and stood there, glancing over the headlines of the day. Erik had allowed her to dress in peace before telling her that she had ten minutes to get down to the foyer or he would be back to find her.
She'd rolled her eyes and agreed with him, making sure that she didn't take long before she went down to the foyer. She'd been stood reading the paper as everyone else sat in the breakfast lounge, filling themselves with food for the long journey ahead of them.
Erik had picked up an apple and noticed Grace waiting by the entrance. He'd chewed on a bit of the apple and walked to meet her as she opened the first page of the paper.
"I'm not particularly hungry," Grace said, moving her gaze up to meet Erik's. She felt his eyes rake over her slim form and she crossed her ankles together, closing the paper and allowing it to fall against her stomach in her hand.
"What?" Erik wondered as he saw her glare at him.
"I know that I don't have the best figure, hell, I don't have a figure." She sniped quietly. "But that doesn't mean that you can run your eyes over me, got it?" she checked with him.
Erik held his hands up in surrender. "You need to eat something." He repeated. "I was just looking out for you."
There it was again. Looking out for her. He'd done that a few times now. It was beginning to make Grace feel uncomfortable. Yes, he could stand being in her company, but that didn't need to mean that he to be concerned for her welfare.
"Fine," Grace said, swiping the apple from his hands and taking a bite from the side he hadn't chewed.
A look of annoyance took hold of Erik's face. "I didn't mean my apple," he told her.
"I was just doing as you said," Grace said, throwing the paper back onto the coffee table before she nonchalantly shrugged at Erik.
"So childish," Erik complained, moving back to fetch another apple whilst Grace smirked at watching him leave her. She continued to chew on the apple as Charles wandered over to her with Raven hot on his heels.
"Grace," he greeted her. "I trust you slept well."
"Very," she nodded in agreement with him. "How are you this morning?"
"Good," Charles said. "I didn't get the chance to introduce you to my sister yesterday. Grace, this is Raven. Raven, this is Grace."
"Hey," the blonde smiled widely at the brunette.
"Oh," Grace said, "I am so sorry about what happened yesterday with Azazel...honestly..."
"No worries," Raven held a hand up to assure the girl. "It's not like it was your fault. Besides, it wasn't that bad, and I can finally say that I have a battle wound...which is pretty cool."
Grace nervously managed to smile back to the girl as Erik rejoined the conversation.
"I found myself another apple," he spoke, glaring back to the waitress as she rolled her eyes and took another bite from her fruit.
"Good," she replied.
"Am I missing something?" Charles wondered from them and Erik shook his head, walking past them and looking down to Grace with a smug look planted on his face;
"Nothing that I can't handle."
Raven watched Erik leave, a look of wonder on her face as he went. There was something about him which she didn't quite understand. Unfortunately Grace didn't have that issue. She was finding herself getting to know Erik Lensherr quite well, without even knowing it herself.
...
Grace wasn't one to complain often. She had to admit that she rarely had before she had been taken by the metal bending mutant. She did her best to keep calm and rely on what she had. But time was slowly going by. Time that meant she was growing frustrated to the point where she did want to complain.
She didn't know how long she had spent trapped between Erik and Raven in the back seat of the car. She had been pushed into the middle after Charles had practically rushed for the front seat along with the agent in black. Moira had taken a car with some of her CIA agents, looking slightly put out by it as she did so.
Grace said nothing as she felt Erik's arm brush against hers and finally pushed her further into the seat. She did feel like saying something when Raven climbed into the other side of the car and Grace felt her push against Grace's other arm. The young woman remained silent as she was force to be squished against them.
"We'll be getting on a plane soon enough," Charles told the group. "And then it is a simple flight to Virginia."
"And then a drive to my mutant division." The agent in black spoke. "I'm hoping that you'll find it satisfactory there."
"I don't doubt it," Charles said, sensing that he wouldn't get a reaction from the back seat.
Grace looked out the window on Erik's side, watching the passing scenery as he slowly shifted in his seat, readjusting his arm against hers.
He said nothing as they made their way through the airport and to the small jet. He also didn't say anything once he took his seat next to Charles and Raven sat beside Grace.
"So, you live in California?" she checked with Grace, snapping the girl's attention from the cloud they were passing through.
"Yeah," Grace said. "I'm a waitress there. Obviously it isn't a career choice I planned on having."
"You're a waitress?" Raven checked with her.
"Yeah. Why?"
"I sort of study waitressing at Oxford," Raven smirked back, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I've never known what I wanted to do in life, I guess. Charles took me in when I was young. He studied there and I found a job to earn my keep."
Grace smiled back to Raven.
"I studied law to begin with," she replied. "I dropped out after the first year. You need some kind of job to pay the bills, don't you?" she shrugged and Raven nodded enthusiastically.
"Exactly!" Raven smiled, dragging Charles's attention from his conversation with Erik to turn back and look at the two girls. "I guessed that it was easy money. I mean, I have kind of lost my faith in humanity though. Some people are so rude. Others are just sleazes."
"Tell me about it," Grace said back to her with wide eyes, nodding as she went. She felt at ease around Raven. She didn't know what it was about the young mutant, but she didn't mind. Grace forgot everything for a moment.
"You know," smirked Raven, "you're not that bad, all things considered."
Grace nervously smiled, her hair being pushed behind her ears as she glanced down to her lap. "I think you're the only one who thinks so."
"Nah," Raven waved a hand. "Charles thinks you're sweet. You've got nothing to worry about there."
Grace's eyes lifted up as she dared to look over to Erik. He was too busy speaking with Charles to notice her. She sighed lightly. It wasn't Charles's opinion she seemed to worry about.
...
Another yawn escaped the waitress as she stood in the arrivals lounge of the airport in Virginia. Moira had gone off with the agent in black to check that the cars were coming whilst Charles spoke with Raven.
Erik stood beside Grace as they looked at the board of arriving flights for something to do. Grace pulled the jacket she wore tighter around her form before she heard Erik speak to her.
"I'm not staying here."
She looked up to him, almost tempted to tell him to take his sunglasses from his eyes when he was indoors. It was just rude. But what he had said took precedent.
"Well, no," Grace frowned, "you can't spend your entire life in an arrival lounge of an airport."
Erik looked unimpressed with the girl's wit as she rolled her eyes and reached up to take his sunglasses off of his eyes. She supposed some things bugged her more than others. She folded them up and placed them into his leather jacket pocket.
"It's not sunny in here," she told him. "You don't need them. Anyway, explain what you meant about not staying here."
"I'm going with them back to the base," Erik said. "I want all the information possible on Shaw. I don't need help in finding him. I've managed so far on my own."
"Right," Grace nodded, "and do you think they're going to let that happen? Charles is a telepath, Erik. I doubt he would let you go alone."
"He'd be a fool to try and stop me," Erik assured her. "He'd do well to know that he's not welcome to stay in my head."
Grace ran a hand through her puffy hair, shaking her head as she did so. She looked up to Erik for a moment before she spoke.
"You're one mutant," she whispered. "You're one mutant against my dad and three others. Who do you think has the advantage? You've tried to kill him alone before. Did it work? No. You fell from the yacht and watched him escape."
"I've learned from my mistakes."
"Really?" Grace wondered from Erik. "My dad is no fool, Erik. You know that as well as I. He will sense you coming and he will make sure that he is prepared for when you arrive."
"He can be beaten."
"Yes," agreed Grace, searching his stern gaze. "I know that he can...but...you cannot beat him alone. He has allies. He has people he relies on to help him against you. You don't stand a chance. Would you just listen to me for once?"
"Why?" Erik asked her, his brow arched at her. "It sounds to me as if you are just trying to stop me from killing him."
"I'm trying to stop you from getting yourself killed," hissed Grace. "Why can't you see that? I'm not protecting him anymore. If I wanted to protect him then I would have ran away last night. I would have gone and he would have found me."
Erik listened to her as she tried to convince him to do the safest thing. He knew that a small part of him believed her. The vast majority of him kept on repeating who she was. But it was the minority which was winning. It was the niggling bit inside of him which believed her.
"I know that I bring nothing to this," she whispered, almost sounding ashamed of herself. "I know that I am not like you. I have no idea what he put you through...the pain...but...I do know him. And I do know he is powerful, even more so considering he has friends."
Grace shrugged to Erik.
"I don't want you to hurt him, but he does need to be caught. There's only one way to do that, and it isn't running off and going alone."
Erik's eyes found hers and he wondered if she spoke sense. And then she did something he never thought she would.
She placed her hand onto his jacket covered arm, her gaze soft as she wanly smiled up to him.
"Don't do anything brash," Grace urged him. "You'll regret it in the end."
She walked away from him then, moving back over to Raven as Charles finished speaking with Moira before he saw Erik. Charles walked over to the man, knowing full well what he intended to do that evening. He folded his fingers together behind his back and fell into step next to Erik.
"She's right." Charles said.
"She's very good at manipulation," Erik replied.
Charles grinned as he saw her walk off with his sister. Raven had that same trait too. "I think it is something to do with waitressing."
...
So happy with the three reviews from yesterday! Thanks to Miss. Lori MacManus, DamonSalvatorelover and Cardbored for reviewing! And also to Se acerca el invierno for their PM!
I hope you will keep reading and reviewing. I'd love to know what you think!
