sorry i haven't updated in so long! school, work and life has been crazy! plus i was out of ideas on where i wanted to go with this story so here is a product of a mcds run for a frappe and hot apple pies and a 3am lightning bolt :) enjoy...

A/N: i just realized i may have given Lacey's last name wrong in a few chapters. Her last name should be Charlton. Let me know if you've noticed any problems with that please and thank you!

Chapter Ten

Todd's face was pale and sickly looking…well more so than usual. He was lying on a hospital bed with several tubes and wires hooked up to his body. Dr. McCoy, a large ape-like man with blue fur, was monitoring his condition and while he didn't object to Fred and Lacey's presence he looked a little confused at to why they were alone and why Fred looked so scared and Lacey just looked plain confused.

"How's he doing Doc?" Fred asked; his wide mouth turned down in a frown as he stared down at his friend.

"Well he broke some ribs, his knee cap wasn't shattered but it's very swollen and he has severe bruising on most of his body. But he's in pretty good health so I expect him to make a full recovery within a month or two at the most."

Lacey bit her lip softly as she sat in the chair the doctor had offered her. She could feel the quiet pain that was built up inside Todd and it made her ache inside. Without a word she got to her feet and went to stand with Fred. As she approached Todd's eyelids twitched and the heart monitor's steady tempo increased ever so slightly.

Hank lifted his head and watched the scene with curious eyes.

"Pardon me young lady, what are your mutant abilities if I may ask?"

Lacey looked at him with confusion, "I'm an empath and I can see the future."

"An empath?"

"I can alter people's emotions."

"Yes, yes but a mere empath should not be able to hold back pain like I saw you do last night. Are you sure you do not possess any other abilities?"

"I…I don't know." Lacey stammered.

Todd's eyes flickered again and he let out a little grunt of a yawn. Hank hurried to his side, checking machines and tubes. Meanwhile Lacey felt a slight ache beginning to grow inside her chest. She pressed her hands to her ribs and staggered backwards with a groan.

"Lacey!"

"What do we do with him?"

John frowned slightly from where he was perched atop Sabertooth's body. The big mutant was unconscious having been knocked out by Wanda who was being attended by Pietro. The witch seemed fine however, just slightly winded and she could feel her head beginning to ache.

"Maybe we should bring him closer to the house."

"Leave him," Wanda spat, dragging herself to her feet, "We need to go check on Todd and make sure he's okay. The sooner we can get him home the better, that way Father won't be suspicious and come himself."

"Sounds like a plan to me." John said, springing lightly to his feet. He started to walk down the trail only to be halted by Pietro who glared at him coldly.

"Why are you here?"

"Huh?"

"Sabertooth was obviously on orders from Magneto to find Todd but why are you here? And why are you here so early?"

The red head blanched and looked to Wanda briefly but the witch ignored him, instead her gaze was focused on her twin. "Um…well see Mags sent me to see what had happened to Todd. I didn't know about Victor until I got here."

"Why were you here so early?" Pietro pressed, he turned his icy gaze on his sister who merely raised one of her brows. "And why would Magneto need to send Sabertooth if you were already on your way here? Unless he wants to keep an eye on you…"

"I…err…rather…" The Aussie glanced around the little group frantically. It wasn't a matter of coming up with a good lie, he was horrible at that. It was simply a matter of who would protect him from Pietro's wrath, he wasn't really sure if Wanda would or not but to his surprise the witch sighed and opened her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"He came to see me, Pietro."

"What!?"

"John came to see me and Sabertooth saw us together and took off."

The speedster's eyes narrowed and he whirled on John who flinched but stood his ground, his eyes fastened on Wanda's over her twin's shoulder. "What are you playing at?"

The man shrugged slightly, "I…I like Wanda. We get along. Two crazies, eh?"

Pietro ground his teeth together murderously but Wanda put a restraining hand on his shoulder, "He means no harm 'Tro. He's helped me remember some things." she whispered faintly. "I just didn't want you to worry about my memory coming back prematurely."

While the twins stared at each other the rest of the group shifted nervously. Rahne's nose twitched and she sank to the forest floor, a warning growl building in her throat even in her human form. "We got company."

"Easy fraulein, it is only us." Kurt's calm voice filtered through the trees as he seemed to melt into view, followed by Kitty who literally melted through the bushes that surrounded the clearing.

"What do you want?" Pietro snarled, his anger now having found a new target.

"The Professor sent us to get you. Something happened with Todd."

"Is he alright?" Lance asked, his eyes becoming a little panicked.

"Um…actually he's fine now. Lacey's not good though. The Professor thinks she's entering her secondary mutation."

"She's already got two powers." Rahne murmured, her green eyes confused.

"It's hard to explain. Xavier wants you all to come and see her. She's pretty scared."

"Is she gonna be alright, yo?" Todd asked feebly. Against all odds he was awake, sitting up and nibbling on a tray of food Hank had offered him.

"I'm not sure Todd. I really don't have any idea of what's going on with her." Hank replied as he jotted down some notes on a piece of paper. Lacey slept fitfully in a smaller room off of the main lab where she wouldn't be disturbed by the usual coming and goings of the day. He was currently running tests on some blood and skin samples he'd taken earlier.

BAMF! Kurt ported into the room making Todd jump in surprise while Hank merely pulled away from his microscope. "What is it Kurt?"

"The Brotherhood are upstairs. Do you want them to come down here?" the German youth glanced briefly at Todd who nodded in what he hoped was a friendly manner.

"No, no I'll go up and talk to them. Would you mind staying here and watching Lacey and Todd? If any of the monitors start making a buzzing sound report to me. I shouldn't be more than ten minutes."

"Yes sir."

Hank left the pair and knuckled his way through the sliding doors and down a short hall to a small room stuffed with couches. Usually this was where the students would wait to hear news about their injured friends and now it was occupied by the entire Brotherhood and Kitty who stood near Lance but not too near.

"Good morning children." Hank said with a slight smile, "I'm sorry to call you out of bed so early but I was hoping maybe you could help me solve a bit of a mystery."

"Is Lacey ok?" Rahne asked, picking at her nails nervously.

Hank sighed, "That's actually what I want to discuss with you. It seems that Miss Charlton has an undiscovered ability that connects to her empathy. From what I can tell this ability allows her to absorb pain or block it. However she doesn't seem to be able to channel this pain anywhere besides her own body." he paused and looked around the group to see if this information had made sense.

"So…she absorbed Todd's pain and she's feeling it now?" Lance asked, his eyes wide.

"I believe so. She's sedated right now and I am a bit wary of letting her awaken in case she tries to project the pain into another person."

"What if it was me?" Fred asked, looking hopeful, "I don't feel pain real easy."

Hank shook his head, "I'm afraid this isn't physical pain Fred. Lacey's powers affect the brain, so no matter who she projected to it will hurt. Badly."

"Can't the Professor do anything?" Pietro queried.

"He's on his way as we speak from Boston. He should be here very soon."

Rahne sighed and rubbed her head, "This mutant stuff is hard."

Hank smiled grimly, "I'm afraid so. Now if you wish you can all eat some breakfast and wait here until further news about your friends."

The group nodded collectively and Kitty led the way upstairs.

"You think she's going to be okay?" Rahne murmured, looking up at Pietro who had fallen in stride with her.

"If anyone can help her Xavier can. He's very powerful and he knows more about mutants than almost anyone in the world."

The redhead nodded slowly then perked up as delicious scents began to waft past her nose as they entered the main level of the mansion. Kitty led them towards a large kitchen where a white haired woman was setting out a jug of juice on the already crowded table.

"Good morning children, the others have already eaten so please help yourselves."

For a brief moment the Brotherhood hesitated. Then Fred looked around, raised his hands in surrender and fell on the food happily.

'I always thought dying would hurt less.' Lacey said to herself as she drifted along in the blackness of her unconscious state. She was dimly aware of her surroundings, the curiosity coming off the big blue doctor and Todd's nervousness but they didn't seem to matter much.

Pain radiated through every inch of her being. She felt as if she was on fire, being stabbed all over with razor sharp knives, and beaten with a ten pound sledgehammer but she couldn't move, couldn't even make a sound to alert anyone to her plight.

'Lacey?'

Her body stiffened involuntarily, 'Who's there?'

'Lacey my name is Charles Xavier. I am a telepath, you need to relax your mind. I can help you.'

'How in the HELL am I supposed to relax?!' Lacey screamed, finally having a vent for her pain and fear.

"Professor!"

Storm leapt forward as the man gave a yell of pain and seemed to physically pull himself away from something and then wave it away as if he was being attacked.

"I can reach her but she's in so much pain that she's trying to give it to anybody who comes in contact with her. If I absorb it myself there is no telling what the damage could be. Even if we had more telepaths the risks are uncharted." Xavier murmured softly.

"What're we gonna tell those kids?" Logan asked gruffly, "They ain't gonna like the idea of leaving her to suffer alone and sooner or later there'll be a fight."

"We may need to go to Lacey's parents and find out information from them. Anything may be useful to us at this point." the man mused. After a moment of thought he nodded, "Take Lance, Rahne and Kitty with you."

"Shouldn't we put a coupla more X-men on this mission?" the Canadian asked doubtfully.

"Lacey is not an X-men and I believe we all know how fiercely loyal the Brotherhood can be to it's own. Logan you have permission to equip your team and leave immediately. Storm I would like for you to bring Pietro and Todd to my office please."