Thank you to those of you who reviewed the last couple of chapters. It means a great deal to me. Its a miracle I am posting this now, as there is currently a very loud and very nasty storm going on. It keeps knocking out the power and internet.


Lee got the feeling that Charles was a patient, understanding person. His kindness amazed her, which gave her the feeling that she could ask him anything. However, Lee couldn't find Charles, so Lee went back down to the lab to keep Hank company. He was mostly quiet as he worked, and Lee was content to stare around the room, taking in all the little bits and pieces, and then the larger apparatuses. She had no idea what any of them did, but it was interesting to just be in the room nonetheless.

While watching Hank, Lee couldn't help but question a few things. "How did you get this man's hair? You didn't seem too keen on the man, so I didn't think he would be around to hand out DNA samples," Lee broke the silence.

"I got it from his sheets. He used to stay here. You know about Cuba right?"

"I know of it. I'm not familiar with the details," she answered, hoping he would fill her in. However, he didn't say anything else. Lee decided to prod him along.

"That was a while ago," she pushed the conversation forward.

"Charles just cleaned out the room this morning. It's probably where you'll end up. I went through his used sheets in the laundry room to get this," Hank explained bluntly as he held up a short dark hair with tweezers before dropping it in a test tube for safe keeping. Lee nodded, not really sure how else to reply.

"Why the interest in all this?" she asked after a while.

"Surely you know that. The odds of two mutants having the same mutation are very unlikely."

After a while longer of Lee sitting quietly and Hank working, the door to the lab opened. It was Charles.

"I've been looking for you," he said, looking at Lee as he walked into the room.

"Someone's in a better mood," Hank commented quietly, though both Lee and Charles heard him. Charles shot a brief glare towards the back of Hank's head, but returned his attention to Lee.

"Dinner should be here soon. None of us are particularly skilled in the culinary arts, and we were getting sick of pasta all the time, so Sean insisted on ordering pizza if that's alright with you," he said. Lee shrugged, not really caring. She wasn't a picky eater.

"That's fine. While you're here, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions," Lee started. Hank set down what he was doing and turned slightly, blatantly listening in on the conversation. Charles looked a bit curious, and nodded, encouraging her to speak.

"What do you think the odds are of me being like this Erik Lensherr? It's a bit strange we have the same ability, isn't it? You know him, yeah? And you've seen a bit of what I can do. Are our abilities really the same?" Once Lee got started, it was difficult for her to stop. She hardly gave Charles any time to answer, and she found that as soon as she said something, another thought would pop into her head, and she felt the need to voice it before she forgot. Charles ran a heavy hand through his hair, and let out a deep breath. He looked from Lee to Hank, and back again. Hank decided to stay out of the conversation, judging on how Charles reacted earlier in the day just from changing Erik's sheets.

"How do you know about him?" Charles asked her. The look of shock and fear on Lee's face amused Charles a bit, despite the circumstances, but he kept it to himself.

"After I woke up, Hank found me and he asked for a DNA sample. I had him tell me a bit," she answered, a bit afraid that she had somehow violated Charles' trust somehow.

"He was involved in what happened last October. We had a difference in opinion and went separate ways after Cuba," Charles stated diplomatically, without revealing anything useful or that Lee didn't already know.

"Involved how? I mean, you say you had a difference of opinion. Did it happen before or after? Was he the reason for Cuba, or did he help you?" Lee couldn't help her curiosity about the situation. She could tell Charles was troubled by this unknown man, but she couldn't help her wanting to know more about him. She felt a desperate need to know more about the man that she apparently had such an important thing in common with.

The expression in Lee's eyes weakened Charles' defenses a bit. She looked so confused, interested, curious. She stared at him, eyes wide and imploring. Charles sighed again. He couldn't very well say no to her. He could sense how badly she wanted to know more about his old friend. How could she not? The chances of two mutants having the same mutation was unheard of.

"I'll tell you what. After dinner, I'll tell you what you want to know over a glass of wine," he offered. He didn't actually stop to think that maybe she didn't drink, or that she didn't want to drink with him. The idea pained him, the thought of yet another rejection scared the hell out of him. But he waited for her reply.

Lee realized that she would have to be patient to find out what she wanted. Charles had been exceedingly kind to her already, and it wasn't in her place to push his hospitality. She was relieved at his offer, eager to learn more and to spend the time with him. He wasn't hard to look at, and his offer to share what he knew over a glass of wine almost sounded like an invitation for a date to Lee. However, she didn't think he would be interested in that, they had only just met.

"Perfect," she said, smiling. Charles liked that. He liked it when she smiled. It wasn't obnoxious, nor was it timid. It looked natural on her, as if she was born to smile.

Hank watched the two stare at each other, smiling like a couple of teenage fools. If he hadn't just witnessed the entire conversation, he would think young Charlie had just asked Lee from third period to the homecoming dance and she said yes. He rolled his eyes and returned to what he was doing, making a mental note that the next time Charles Xavier was in a murderous mood, get Lee in the same room as him and he'll be good as new.

Charles and Lee went up to dinner, leaving Hank behind in his lab. He claimed he would come up later, as soon as he was finished. Lee didn't argue, she was starving.

During their meal, Lee had Alex and Sean explain their abilities to her. Sean spoke animatedly, gesturing wildly, and even offering to demonstrate. Charles quickly warned him against it, though. Alex was the quiet and reserved type. Lee took him to be a bit of a brooder. Sean excitedly told her about their mutant codenames and how they referred to themselves as the X Men.

"The X Men?" she repeated, trying to suppress a giggle.

"Yeah, for Xavier. I'm Banshee, he's Havok, and he's Professor X. Oh, and Hank is Beast. We'll have to come up with something for you, though. Magneto is already taken," Sean explained.

"Professor?" she quirked an eyebrow and looked to her left at Charles.

"Just last year. From Oxford," he said simply, hoping to impress. The fact that he was an Oxford student always impressed at the pubs, and he wanted to impress Lee. Though, he party hoped that she wouldn't be impressed by something like that. She stuck him as different from other the other women he usually went after. Those women always fell for his tactics. Except for Moira, but she was a different story all together.

"Oh, so you've got a while until tenure, then. Better look busy," she teased. "Oxford, then? I attended Lund, though I barely escaped with a simple degree, no fancy titles unfortunately. It might have made my codename more exciting if I tried a bit harder in school. Doctor B, or something silly like that." Sean and Alex thoroughly enjoyed seeing Charles teased. He was a tough man to get the better of, and the humor in the situation was not lost on them. Charles was a good sport and went along with the teasing.

"Lund? I'm sorry to hear that," he joked, mocking faint disgust.

"I can't tell you how many times I thought that while I was there. It kept me busy, though," she said, old memories of her university days surfacing.

"What did you major in?" Sean asked.

"A bachelor's degree in literature. I almost scraped by with an M.R.S. degree, too," she answered. Sean and Alex didn't understand what she meant, but Charles choked a bit.

"You were married?" he asked quickly.

"Almost. I said almost. Never actually went through with it," she corrected him. Charles couldn't describe how he felt. He was glad that she wasn't married, or had previously been married. The thought of her with some strange man had him feeling quite odd. Jealousy was rearing its ugly head, and he barely knew the girl.

"How come?" Sean asked again. He was quite the curious fellow, Lee decided. She couldn't blame him though. Naturally he would want to know more about the new strange woman suddenly living in his home.

"This," she said as she raised her hand and pulled the fork, full of salad, from Alex's hand, demonstrating her mutation again.

"He wasn't too excited about marrying a mutant," Charles assumed. Alex snatched his fork from the air and continued eating.

"He didn't know. I broke it off before he could. I had just sort of realized what I was after I graduated, and I didn't think it was fair to the poor bloke," she explained to them. Charles noted how she repressed her emotions to deliver the explanation as detachedly as she could manage. To Sean and Alex, it seemed like it was all in the past and nothing but a distant memory. Charles could tell it still troubled her, though. However, he couldn't tell if she still held feelings for this man. Or at least, not without invading her thoughts again. He tried to restrain himself, as this was very personal. He didn't want to violate her trust, even though she would never had to know that he just slipped in quietly.

Charles was considering the moral dilemma of reading her thoughts as the conversation shifted towards how Alex and Sean became involved with the 'X Men.' They told their stories, unaided by the professor as he was still deep in thought.

He wanted to get to know Lee. He wanted to know everything about her. She was interesting, she was mysterious. She was infinitely curious, always wanting to know more. She was intelligent. Not anyone could get into Lund University and make it out with a degree. And god, was she beautiful. Her skin tone was beautifully pale. She had a slight dimple in her left cheek, and a bit of a bump on the bridge of her nose. He noticed a tiny line on her chin, a faint scar.

Charles was stirred from his musings as Hank burst into the dining room, a wide smile spread across his face.

"No relation!" He announced happily as he grabbed a plate and loaded it with slices of pizza, completely ignoring the salad Charles made. Though it was hardly a salad. He cut up half a head of lettuce and poured a bit too much vinaigrette dressing on top. He felt a responsibility to look out for everyone in the house, which included proper nutrition. However, he wasn't too interested in cooking (though salad making hardly counts as cooking), and lacked proper ingredients. He needed to go to the store soon.

Sean and Alex took a moment to figure out what Hank was talking about. But Charles was very pleased. He knew the likelihood of Erik and Lee being related was very slim, next to nothing, but he was pleased nonetheless.


Please review! Oh, and some nice Lee/Charles takes place in the next bit, so keep an eye out for that.