A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates, but "Punishment & Forgiveness" kinda dominated my mind for a while, but looks like Broken is coming back for another round! Thanks for your patience and Happy New Year!

Leigh drove up to the gate and sighed; she hadn't been back since she'd left, except for Charles' funeral. She pressed the buzzer and waited.

"Xavier's School, how can I help you?" the voice was unfamiliar and she sighed.

"This is Leigh Harris and I'm here to see Dr. McCoy."

"Welcome."

The gate swung open and Leigh drove through and up to the front of the house. She turned the car off and took a deep breath. She looked up as the door opened and Hank stepped out of it. Leigh got out of her car and walked towards her friend as he descended the stairs.

"Welcome home Leigh." He smiled and enveloped her in a warm hug.

The feel of his warm body and the tickle of his fur made her smile; she'd missed Hank McCoy. She buried her face in his chest and sighed.

"Thanks Hank." She gave him a quick squeeze then pulled back.

"I'm glad you came back." He smiled down at her, "We have a few new telekenetics that could use your help."

Leigh nodded, "It'll take me a while to get back into the swing of things, but sure, I can give them a hand."

Hank helped her with her suitcases and led her to the teachers' wing of the school and she sighed again. The last time she was here, she was still a student. She smiled as Hank opened the door and it was a room for her on her own. She saw the nice double bed and the door that led to a private bathroom. They placed her suitcases in the room and then Hank started leading her back to the main area of the house.

"Leigh?" a deep voice behind her made her turn around and she launched herself at her old friend.

"Logan!" she smiled as the tough Canadian wrapped his arms around and spun her around.

"Hey." He set her down and stepped back, setting his hands on her shoulders. "You doing okay?"

"I will be."

Logan nodded, "S.H.I.E.L.D. really put you through the ringer, didn't they?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "they really did."

"Well, you're home now." A soft female voice came from the side and she smiled at Oruro Monroe.

"True." Leigh smiled and hugged her old teacher. "It's been too long."

"Well you are welcome to stay here as long as you need." Oruro smiled, "We still have that teaching spot open if you'd like."

"You know, I think that's just what I need." Leigh shook her new boss's hand and smiled.

~A~A~A~A~A~A~A~

Tony walked into the lounge and nearly turned back around. Loki was standing by the window, staring out at the city and he did not look happy.

"Where is she?" the god's voice was tense.

"Which she are you talking about, because Pepper is in London."

"Don't play word games with me Stark; you know whom I speak of."

"She left." Stark said, deciding that honesty was best.

"When?"

"Three days ago."

Stark couldn't have hurt him more if he'd punched him in the stomach. Leigh had been gone three days and she hadn't said good bye.

"Why?"

"She got a new job." Stark walked up, seeing the god's shoulder slump. "She's very independent, didn't like living off the Stark money."

"Where?" Loki wasn't even sure he'd heard himself ask the question.

"I won't tell you." Stark said, "She asked us not to tell you, so I won't."

Loki was trembling; he was angry, but he wasn't sure if he was mad at Stark, mad at Leigh or mad at himself. He turned; his face a mask of rage and pain.

"Tell me!" he screamed, trying to not remember yelling the same thing at Odin.

"No."

Loki hung his head, he'd messed up and he knew he had, but how could he explain how she made him feel? How he could make them understand the fear he felt at the idea of losing her, the knowledge that she would slowly age and then die long before he even seemed to have aged much more than a year or two? The disgust that he felt for himself was almost overwhelming.

"Stark, have you ever wanted something, but feared losing it at the same time?" Loki asked, deciding that perhaps, since the Man of Iron had helped save him and was her friend it would be okay to reach out, just this once.

"Yes." Stark smiled, "Pepper, I loved her for so long before I actually said anything; I regret it now because I lost so much time with her, but at the same time I think I appreciate her more now because I waited so long. Why?"

"I feel…" he hesitated, not sure he should expose himself that much.

"You feel that way about Leigh?" Tony asked and hearing her name was like a shard of glass to his heart.

"Yes."

"Well, you got a damn funny way of showing it." Tony said and Loki could tell he was upset.

"I am a god, I will live for millennia." Loki said, unused to exposing himself like this, "She will not."

"None of us will, besides your brother." Tony sighed, "But I think I understand."

Loki nodded and turned back to look at the city.

"What you need to ask yourself is, would you rather have a few decades of happiness with her or constantly wonder what you missed out on by giving into your fear."

Loki stood stunned as he heard the Man of Iron walk away, leaving him to stew and think about what he was asked.

~A~A~A~A~A~A~

Leigh woke up for her first day of teaching and sighed; she wasn't sure if she was ready for this and she missed her friends back at Stark Tower. She slipped out of bed and into her private washroom. She knew the staff would be getting together for breakfast and she was expected to attend so she quickly washed her face and got dressed. Her black slacks look good and she purposely pulled on a red blouse and hung a gold chain around her neck. Her shoes were comfy and black as well and as she headed to the dining room for breakfast.

Breakfast had gone well and as she headed into her class to set up she smiled. She had sat in those same desks and watched her professors talk about all kinds of subjects. She knew she would have only the telekinetics in her class because that's what she would be teaching so she placed a few objects on each desk and then wrote her name on the board for the students to read when they walked in.

Leigh's first student was a boy, he looked to be about thirteen and as he read her name he nodded and picked a desk.

"Hello." She smiled at him, he was smaller than most and he kind of reminded her of the pictures she'd seen of Steve before his transformation.

"Hi Ms. Harris." He smiled shyly at her.

"What's your name?" she asked, taking in his sandy hair and blue eyes.

"I'm Mark." He replied, "Mark Briggs."

"Nice to meet you Mark, how long have you been here?"

"About three months."

Leigh nodded as a slightly older girl walked in, looked at board and walked up to her.

"Hi, I'm Lanie." She held her hand out and Leigh shook it.

"Nice to meet you Lanie, please pick a desk."

Two more girls walked in, introduced themselves as Sarah and Sasha and sat down. Leigh checked her list and knew they were waiting for one more student. A few minutes later he walked in and Leigh almost did a double take. He was tall, thin and had shoulder length dark hair. His eyes were brown though and he picked a desk at the back of the room and didn't say much.

"Alright, I'm going to assume that you all know each other." Leigh said and they all nodded, "So, before we continue a bit about myself. My name is Leigh Harris, I was taught and trained here by Charles Xavier. I left after graduation to work for another organization, I've been there for nearly six years."

The dark haired boy put his hand up.

"Yes Drake?"

"What organization?"

"That's classified." Leigh responded and his eyes widened. "Any other questions?"

"Are you like us?" Mark asked.

"A mutant?" Leigh laughed, "Yes, I am and more specifically, I'm a telekinetic like all of you too."

The all smiled, I knew since Charles and Jean had died that they didn't really have anyone to look up to or learn from.

"Prove it." Drake smirked at her.

Leigh looked at the smirking boy and then picked up his desk. It rose levelly and at a slow steady speed until it was hovering about six feet in the air, nothing on it moved. She held it there and slowly picked up the desks the other students were sitting behind as well until they were level with the first. She held them a few moments before dropping them and then catching them less than two inches from the floor. She set them down gently and the pencils and other objects hit the desks and some rolled off.

The students were watching her with awe in their faces.

"That was like something out of Star Wars!" Mark exclaimed and Leigh knew they'd along just fine.

"Alright, first lesson, pick up everything that fell off your desk, but do not leave your seat."

The students looked at her and gasped, they tried to protest and she held up a finger.

"You will never learn if you don't try." She said, remembering Charles telling her the same thing. "Begin."

Leigh sat behind her desk and watched them struggling to pick up pencils, paper cups and rubber balls from the floor. Well, most of them anyway, Mark look at his pencil and it slowly rose off the floor and settled on his desk. Leigh focused her attention on the young boy and watched him pick up the rubber ball next and set it next to the pencil so it wouldn't roll back off.

He's special. She thought and turned her attention back to the rest of the class.

Drake seemed to be having the most trouble and there was sweat beading on his forehead as he tried to get the pencil off the floor.

She stood and slowly walked to him, placing her hands on his slim shoulders she felt him tense.

"Don't force it Drake," she whispered, "Just imagine you're bending down to pick it up, it's just that simple and that hard at the same time."

The class ended and only Mark had gotten all of his items back on his desk; Leigh was impressed because he was the youngest of the students and conceivably had the least practice.

"Good job everyone, I'll see you tomorrow and we'll try again." They got up and left the room.

Logan walked in as they left the room and sighed, "You have a phone call from New York."