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The room was silent for a second before Johnson cleared his throat.
"Should we continue, or would you prefer that we return once you and your people have regrouped?"
Charles looked up at him, breaking his stare at the side of Moira's face. "I think I gathered everything you wanted to tell me. If it's all the same to you, however, I'd like to discuss things with the others. I can contact you tomorrow if that's convenient for you."
"Take as long as you need." Johnson said, his smile appearing genuine. He produced a card. "I wrote all the details down here for you, our hotel is just down the road."
Taking it from his hand, Charles glanced down at the information. "Yes, I'm familiar with it. And thank you for taking the time to talk with me. It's certainly been eye-opening." He said, shaking hands with Johnson, Paige and Buhle in turn.
Moira moved to open the door but of course she wasn't getting away that easy.
"Actually, Agent MacTaggert I was hoping to have a word."
The three agents looked to her.
She smiled at them in what she hoped was a reassuring way, unsure how convincing she was actually being.
"We'll wait in the car outside." Johnson promised.
"You don't have to," Charles suggested, "Alex could drive your Agent back. I believe he wants to speak to her again anyway."
Moira looked Johnson in the eye. "I'll meet you back at your room, I won't be long." She was clear to emphasise.
"We will see you shortly then." He nodded, leading his people outside where Alex was hovering to show them the way back to the door. Crossing the room, Moira looked around the curtains so she could see the team leave the building. Charles' rolled closer to her, stopping at the corner of his desk.
The longer the silence lasted the more toxic it seemed to get until Moira felt like she was suffocating. She was determined, however, not to be the first to speak.
"Your team seem to have done this before, quite a few times in fact." Charles said, his voice quiet.
"They're not my team. But then you already know that." Moira corrected, sighing as she turned away from the window.
Charles raised his hands slightly from the chair, almost in an act of surrender. "I haven't read your mind once since you entered the house." He said, continuing quickly as she looked prepared to retort, "Admittedly, I did communicate with your mind, but I read none of your thoughts. Only Alex's."
Moira wondered if there was any way to actually test that claim.
Asshole. She thought as violently as she could, tracing his face for any reaction. There was none, but of course if he wanted her to think that he wasn't reading her mind he wouldn't allow for that mistake.
And that thought marked the return of the usual Charles induced paranoia. Was he reading her mind or wasn't he? And how could she ever know the truth? She was starting to wish they'd never met.
He moved around his desk when he got no response, quietly motioning to the chair opposite him. "Won't you sit?"
Moira frowned at his attempts for civility. "And if I say no will you make me sit down anyway?"
Charles winced at the accusation. "You can leave anytime you want Moira. I won't stop you and Alex is waiting in the hall, ready to go whenever you are."
Regarding the chair, Moira unfolded her arms - not even able to recall when she'd first crossed them - before slowly taking the seat. Charles almost smiled but seemed to have enough sense not to.
"We certainly have a lot to talk about."
"I guess we do." She responded, leaning back. Moira attempted to channel her inner Peggy who would undoubtedly be doing this entire encounter five times more efficiently and coolly than she ever could. "Did my team brief you on why they were here or did Lehnsherr interrupt?"
Charles took a deep breath. "Erik arrived just as they were getting to the point."
"But you already knew why they were here. You didn't need them to tell you." Moira stated.
"No, I didn't. I'm happy to stay in contact with this organisation, however I wish to know more about them."
"What the agents thought wasn't enough for you?" She said sceptically. "You know what S.H.I.E.L.D is, you know what we do - what else do you want to know?"
"The people that your organisation works with - the exceptionals was it - have you already made contact with other mutants?"
"It's not just mutants."
"Yes," Charles said thoughtfully, "I see the team have some rather interesting stories. One of them, Rapture, seems to be particularly interesting. A low-level telepath from what I've seen..."
"Rapture is an agent." Moira said sharply, irritated, both, that Charles had only shown interest in the one agent in S.H.I.E.L.D (that Moira knew of) who had powers and that she herself hadn't realised that he was a telepath until just now. The realisation that he had read her mind when they first met made her cringe internally.
She wished there was a way to shut them out. Or that they would at least ask first - but of course it wasn't always within their control.
"I'm sorry."
Moira looked up at him.
"I know it makes you uncomfortable. But I need as much information about S.H.I.E.L.D as I can get - I need to know whether they're a threat to us," he gestured around him, "and if they are truly something we can trust to work with."
"I trust S.H.I.E.L.D." Moira said automatically.
Charles quirked a brow in disbelief. "Do you?"
"I have had a lot of doubt, and I still know there's a lot I don't know about S.H.I.E.L.D." Moira admitted, shrugging. "But I respect what they do. They respect me. And I'm proud to work for them."
They considered each other for a moment, not breaking eye contact.
"I trust you, Moira." Charles said softly.
Lip curling back, Moira pointed out the very obvious truth. "If you trusted me you wouldn't have wiped my memory."
"It was in the best interest of my students..."
She stood up and headed for the door.
"Moira wait."
Keeping a hand on the doorknob she kept her back to him but waited patiently.
"I did it to protect you."
"Protect me." Moira said dangerously, turning back on him. "What the hell did you think you had to protect me from?"
Charles looked back, his calm demeanour diminishing under her withering gaze. "From people like S.H.I.E.L.D who want to use you to get to us."
"Is that it? Do you think the only reason S. .L.D approached me is for you? Is that what you think of me? That I have nothing else to offer but information about the extraordinary Charles Xavier and his school of mutants?" She retorted, voice thick with disdain.
"I don't know why they hired you. The only information I could gleam out of the agents were their mission parameters. All I really know is that they follow orders - I don't know the motive behind those orders. I don't know what has made S.H.I.E.L.D interested in us, and Johnson certainly didn't ask."
"Coming from the man whose pupils act like your hired guns is pretty rich, Charles." Moira replied. "Hank and Alex are more like your guards than your students, do you answer all of their questions?"
"I'm helping them." He argued.
"And S.H.I.E.L.D helped me!" She half yelled. "They helped me when everyone else shunned me. You're so busy sitting there thinking about why you should trust S.H.I.E.L.D - why should S.H.I.E.L.D trust you?"
He took a breath and looked at his desk for a moment as he seemed to ponder. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I thought I was doing the right thing."
"You were wrong." Moira insisted. She turned to the door before abruptly turning back. "And how the hell did you even know I was here? Johnson and his team had no idea that I was the contact."
Charles froze, looking uncomfortable. Moira didn't need confirmation to know that he had been in her head before he'd voiced his presence earlier, and she also knew better than to expect him to come out with the truth about that or what Erik was doing at the mansion. "You still want to pretend that you trust me?" Moira said quietly, pulling the door open.
"I'm leaving, I don't want to be here anymore. Contact Johnson if you have any problems or concerns. Goodbye, Professor."
She left without a backward glance and hurried to find Alex.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Alex asked as she strode into the entrance hall.
"No, I just want to get out of here." She said truthfully, more than grateful when Alex simply nodded and led her back to the car without any further questions. Spotting Sean leaning out the window, she waved before ducking into the car.
When Alex started the engine and they took off up the drive, Moira kept her eyes firmly on the road before them.
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As always let me know your thoughts - too harsh on Charles, not harsh enough or just right? Have a great weekend, I'll try to upload the next chapter soon!