A/N: *whispers* I'm so sorry this chapter took so long, I don't even have a good excuse since I don't have school at the moment. But hey, it's a long chapter.

HarrietHarryPotterBTR: Ehehe, I can't wait for you to read this chapter

DragonGirl223: You gotta have to read it yourself *insert that smirking emoji here* And no problem, good though that you wrote down your user name so that I know which review belongs to you

Maturity Warning: This chapter contains adult content, if you don't like this stuff, then stop reading at the kiss. And don't worry, you don't miss anything important as to the story's content

Chapter 10: The Calm before the Storm

1962, Westchester County, New York

They all hadn't talked much since the president's address. Dinner had been very awkward; the silence had been weighing them down more than their fear of tomorrow. Evie couldn't really tell what she was feeling, it was rather an ongoing numbness and almost indifference, as if it wasn't really her fight. If she thought more precisely about it, that was just the case. She had nothing to do with this war, but so hadn't the other mutants in this room and still they were all here. Erik on the other hand had a reason to fight Shaw, that man had tortured him when he was just a child and he had killed his mother.

A few of them had already left their silent and awkward gathering, Erik and Charles had gone off to play a game of chess and Raven and Hank had left shortly after. Darwin, Sean and Alex played cards next to Moira and Evie who where trying to read the newspaper in unison. Except for articles of the crisis with Russia, they couldn't find anything else interesting so they both kind of just read the words as a pastime, but they didn't really get what the authors were talking about.

"I don't wanna kill anyone", Darwin suddenly spoke up. They were all startled at the interruption of silence, the only sound they had heard for almost two hours had been the flipping of pages and the cards that hit the table every time a move had been made by the boys. They simultaneously looked up at Darwin who had placed his cards on the table and tried to avoid their questioning eyes.

"You won't have to, Darwin. It's not our task to eliminate any of them", Moira tried to reassure him.

"Yeah, but last time Shaw paid us a visit, he said he would kill us if we didn't join him. And then there is the third World War looming over our heads."

Evie shook her head. "I showed you how to fight without killing. Remember: just distract your opponent with whatever you have. And if that doesn't work I'm there as well, and I am an experienced soldier. You're not alone. None of us is."

Evie felt them staring at her, she wasn't sure if they thought she had talked complete bullshit, but that had been what she had wanted to hear. "Thank you, Evie. I'm glad we're in this together", Darwin said and directed a half-smile at her.

"All right, I'm going to bed, have a good night, see y'all in the morning." Alex stood up and waved his goodbye at them.

"Almost seems as if every time something gets friendly, he runs away", Darwin said then.

"Understandable, he has even less experience with family as I have, and that means something", Evie mentioned. "Anyway, I'm retiring for the night as well. Good night, everyone." She smiled at them all before she left the kitchen. Before tomorrow she had to talk to a few people, and she intended to get that done.

As she entered Raven's room, Evie noticed something was off. The atmosphere was heavy as she knocked on the door and then heard a muffled 'Come in'.

Raven was sitting on one of her armchairs in front of the fireplace, her sad eyes just looked at her friend but as soon as she recognised Evie, she averted her gaze. Raven was clad in her bathrobe and a rather big casket laid on her lap. She was in her natural form as well and didn't change as Evie walked towards her. Evie didn't wait for her friend to allow her to take a seat and just sat down in front of Raven in the other armchair.

She didn't look like she had been crying, but something had happened that had made her deeply sad. And Evie didn't think it was because of tomorrow. Instead of saying anything, she slowly reached out for the casket. Raven didn't do anything to stop her so she took it into her hands and opened it. Inside was a syringe with a green gel-ish liquid in it. Evie could tell now what happened before she came to see her friend.

Hank had come to bring the cure for his and Raven's beauty-problem, but Raven who had become more confident over the last few days had declined and told Hank to do the same; accept himself the way he should do.

"Did he take it?", Evie asked, not sure what to tell her friend to not upset her any further. Raven shook her head.

"Not here, but he is probably injecting it right now. I told him we shouldn't hide, that humans should want to be like us rather than the other way around, but he said that even if humans accept us into society, we ... our bodies would never be deemed beautiful."

Evie sighed internally, Hank was such an intelligent person, how could he so easily stumble over basic manners?

"I know what you're going to say, he's wrong and I am beautiful, and I actually believe you, but .. in some way, he's right. Society won't accept us. And I don't only mean Hank and me, but all of us mutants."

Evie furrowed her brow. "Why would you say such a thing?"

Raven leaned forward, as if she was going to tell her a secret that no one else was supposed to hear. "Our abilities make us superior in some way. Naturally they'd be either scared of us or envious."

Evie shook her head. "Not every human would think so."

"It doesn't need every human to make something terrible happen."

Evie nearly jumped at the sharp tone in her words. "Raven, you're talking nonsense. We have to show them that we mean no harm. Then they'll have no reason to attack us."

Raven sighed and leaned back into her armchair. "Erik has a vision. He sees the things as they are. Of course I'd always prefer Charles' way of dealing with those things, but I don't think his plan will work as peacefully as he wants it to."

"Do you say this because he told you you shouldn't hide your body?" Evie wondered if Raven would think differently if Hank hadn't had his body issues.

"Of course not, that's just how things are."

Evie didn't want to argue with her friend any longer the last night they might have, so she tried to change the subject. "You do like him though, don't you?" She smirked at Raven to show her she wanted to change the mood.

Raven caught that immediately. "Well, can you blame me?"

They both smiled at that then.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to Charles. In case we don't see us before either of us goes to sleep: Have a good night." Raven stood up and Evie did as well, wishing her friend a good night and then left her room.

Evie found Erik in one of the smaller living rooms. Or rather she encountered him, since she hadn't really looked for him.

"Oh, hello", she greeted him. He was sitting on a couch with the newspaper in his hands that she and Moira had read earlier.

He lowered the newspaper and smiled at her, motioning for her to take a seat. "Who won?", Evie asked and he laid the paper on a coffee table

"I did, obviously."

She raised one eyebrow at that. "Obviously? He's the telepath, shouldn't he be supposed to tell your next moves?"

"Now that would be cheating, I don't think our innocent professor could do such a thing."

Evie laughed at that. Even though they all didn't know each other for a long time, she was amazed at his and Charles' friendship. As if they had known each other for all their lives.

They fell into silence for a short amount of time. She didn't really know what to say to him. Should she ask him about tomorrow?

There was something on her mind, though. They all knew they had to stop Shaw, there was no way they could prevent a war without stopping that mutant, but she wondered how they could archive that. Shaw was powerful, they might be able to lock him away, but his fellow mutants would manage to find a way to haul him out.

"Does Charles have a plan on what to do tomorrow? Stopping Russia from starting another world war is one thing, but how will we stop Shaw? He did threaten us all at the CIA facility."

Evie watched the fire in the small fireplace dancing around as she waited for his answer.

"We can't stop him, that's the thing. And actually, that's not what I want either."

She looked at him then, furrowing her brow. "What else do you want, then?"

"I want to kill him."

Evie nodded absently. That was a reasonable conclusion. Shaw had killed Erik's mother who now wanted revenge.

"I don't judge you, you know. I've thought about that as well, actually. We can't be safe any other way."

He looked surprised, as if he had already prepared for defending his opinions.

"You know what I did, I'm the last one who could judge you for that. Sometimes you just can't prevent a death if it's for the greater good."

"I just want to kill him because he murdered my mother."

She nodded at that, Evie already expected that reason. "I'm just afraid what humans would think of us after tomorrow. How would they accept us if we killed one of our own?"

"If you think they would accept us in any way then you're a fool."

She cracked a smile. "That's kinda iconic coming from you. You of all people should know that you oughtn't kill those that you think inferior."

"Good thing that I'm not doing that, then. They are inferior."

Evie sighed.

"Anyways, have a good night, I'm going to bed."

Evie nodded and wished Erik a good night as well. She decided that whenever the chance for him to kill Shaw arose, she would try to help him accomplish that. She would not, however, allow him to kill a human. There was no such thing as killing out of self-defence for him, and her as well, if she was honest. Their powers allowed them to disable their enemies without inflicting unnecessary harm.

The former soldier headed towards her own bedroom then, but found herself too restless to go to sleep just now, so she went to the kitchen. Maybe the others were still there.

Evie was just reaching out for the handle to the kitchen as the door opened abruptly. She jumped back immediately to get herself out of harm's way. A blue, and naked, Raven stomped out of the kitchen and almost bumped into her friend, but she stopped right before her and walked around her. She didn't look at Evie, but she could clearly see that she was furious.

Evie wondered what got Raven into such a state of mind, so she peeked into the kitchen and saw Charles sitting at the table, staring at her as if he had seen a ghost.

She furrowed her brow at that, but he quickly averted his gaze. "What the hell?", she asked and sat down across from him. She wanted to apologise for earlier that day, but she first wanted to know what had happened. They couldn't risk getting into a heavy argument before tomorrow.

"I don't understand what's gotten into her lately."

So that's what she had wanted to talk with Charles about. Evie knew Raven sought after Charles' approval of her, he was the only family that she had and he was the one who made her want to be normal in the first place, so naturally she needed him to accept her the way she was.

"Do you know, Evie?" She looked him in the eyes and wrestled with herself whether she should tell him. She could clearly see that he wanted to know, but she didn't want him to hold it against himself. He hadn't intented to make Raven feel uncomfortable, after all. But then again he would read her mind if she didn't give him the answer he needed, so it didn't matter if she said it or thought about it in the end.

"She wants to be accepted the way she is, especially from you."

Charles closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. "I'm such a bloody fool."

Evie reached out to touch his arm in reassurance but stopped herself and let her hand fall onto the table.

"Don't blame yourself, it wasn't your intention, and believe me, she knows this. The problem was that Hank kind of forced her to want to look normal."

Charles groaned at hearing that. "I am a fool. I told her Hank managed to find a cure for their cosmetic problems."

Evie was once again amazed by how easily such intelligent people managed to get themselves in those situations.

"Yes, he brought her the serum before she went to talk with you. She'll be fine."

Charles looked up from behind his hands at her. "I hope you're right. But talking to her about it now wouldn't be a clever move, would it?"

Evie shook her head. "She'd know I talked to you. It wouldn't seem honest."

Charles stood up and poured himself a glass of wine. "Would you like some, too?" Evie nodded and accepted the glass thankfully. Maybe it would release her of her overall numbness so that she could be more relaxed.

"I meant to apologise for earlier this day ... I shouldn't have snapped at you like this, it wasn't fair", Evie said then. She realised that she hadn't said anything to Erik about this topic, but she hadn't had the need to say anything to him about it. She just wanted Charles to know that she had overreacted.

"No need to apologise, you're totally right. Erik shouldn't have had the opportunity to push Sean off the platform in the first place. I'll think twice of whom to take with me next time." He smiled at her and took a sip of his wine.

Evie thought about what had happened afterwards, how it had triggered bad memories. She wasn't sure if she should tell him. Not because she thought he could understand her better that way, he was probably the only person on earth who could fully understand another person, but because she wanted to tell him. There was no particular reason, she just wanted him to know.

"I overreacted, because it triggered a bad feeling."

Charles nodded in understanding. "I thought so." And after he noticed she didn't know how to continue, he asked her to share her experience with him. Evie wasn't sure what he meant, he either wanted her to tell him or he wanted to see it for himself in her mind, but seeing as he didn't raise his fingers to his temple, she concluded she had to explain.

"When I was with Hydra, I didn't have any friends. I was respected, but rather out of fear than out of actual admiration. Missions with me were ... suicide missions."

Charles smiled reassuringly and took hold of her hand and motioned for her to continue.

"Whenever Red Skull sent me, you knew it would be a tough mission, but I have to admit, way more soldiers could have made their way out of it if I had cared. I never really thought about the meaning of their lives, I wish I could blame it on my father, but I should have known better."

"You were manipulated all the time. They indoctrinated you with drugs and other horrible things, you cannot blame yourself for everything. Not if you're thinking about your doings with disgust now."

She appreciated his words, but she failed to see what he saw in her. He was right, she knew as much, since some of her memories didn't feel like her own. Most of it didn't feel like it had been her, as if it was another life.

"About earlier, before the president's address ... I didn't want to read your mind, you know that I'm doing this thing with my hand when I go into someone's mind ... I don't know. I'm sorry."

She furrowed her brow at hearing that, how could someone read someone's mind without actually wanting to do it? Charles knew how to control his powers, but he seemed honest and she didn't think he would lie to her.

"Has that happened before?", she asked.

"Accidentally reading someone's mind? Hasn't happened in quite a while. You see, that's why I'm always touching my temple, I started doing that so I could control it, as some kind of surveillance."

"So you don't actually need to do it?"

Charles laughed. "Of course not. My powers are inside my head."

He drank the rest of his wine and she did as well. It hadn't worked, she still felt numb, but now there was also a slight feeling of uneasiness.

"Would you mind if we continue our chat upstairs? It's getting quite cold here." Even though the kitchen had a fireplace, it hadn't been lit, which was quite surprising as seemingly in every other fireplace was a warm fire burning. She agreed and followed him into his rather big room.

They had just emptied their second bottle of wine discussing the most random things. Evie felt comfortingly relaxed, not just because of the slightly tingling sensation on her skin for which she blamed the alcohol, but also because Charles made her feel at home. She had been afraid that after their little kiss, things would be awkward, but she found the atmosphere between them was even more comfortable.

"But honestly, why would Shaw bother? He could just do whatever he wants, he doesn't need a human war to cause chaos", she reasoned.

"I'd say it's quite simple: because he can." She noticed how he stressed the last word more than necessary. "If you know you'll succeed anyway then why hush if you can bask in your enemies despair as they destroy themselves with their own stupidity?"

Maybe she wouldn't have laughed if she was more afraid of tomorrow than she was. Or if Charles hadn't put so much sarcasm in his statement. Or if she hadn't boozed a bottle of wine all by herself. But the situation was as it was and she laughed tears. Tomorrow seemed so far away now.

"I really like seeing you happy. You've seen so horrible things, it's nice that you can relax here."

She smiled but could feel the sudden change of atmosphere. It was more serious now. She didn't like it.

"I ah ... I know how you think of yourself, even after all you've done and will do for us. Before tomorrow, I want you to see yourself the way I and all the others think of you."

She raised her eyebrow. Where had that thought come from? She figured it had been on his mind for quite a while and since their final encounter with Shaw was tomorrow, he had to get this off his chest. It reminded her of Raven somehow, how she struggled with her body, Evie struggled with her mind.

"But I would need to look into that beautiful mind of yours, and you'd look into mine. It won't hurt, I promise you, but it might be ... a lot to deal with."

She wanted to ask him why he would do it. She knew by now how he made it his task to make her feel good about herself and to make her realise she was someone else now. But why would he suggest intertwining their minds? She decided to not show depreciation by questioning his offer.

"I'm willing to give it a try."

Charles beamed as he heard that and took her hands in his. They were sitting just like yesterday, on his couch, facing each other.

"Alright, just relax."

Evie nodded and closed her eyes. She could feel his hands comfortingly squeezing hers in reassurance. She waited for him to invade her mind, and then suddenly, she could feel a soft pull. Charles somehow pulled her into his mind, and she could feel the things he felt at that moment. Maybe she could distinguish between his mind and hers so well because she, too, was a telepath. However, she felt a lot warmer and a lot more at ease than she already did.

Unconsciously, she opened her feelings into his, and for a second, she was unsure of where it was her memories or his. Evie could feel him watching what she just showed him and then she saw it herself. She had poured all the good things that she could remember in front of her. It wasn't much, naturally, and almost nothing was before her awakening, but the strongest emotion of something good she had was a feeling she hadn't known before Hydra put her into cryosleep.

Evie could clearly remember how she had gotten to that particular sensation. Happiness and relief hadn't been something she had learned in her first part of life. If the feeling of aggravation was stolen from you, you lost the sense of hoping for something better. Sometimes you needed to feel hell to know what heaven was. Every time Evie had gotten a glance of hell, Hydra had stolen it from her, so she had never really learned what hope was.

Waking up all alone then, the only thing she could do was hoping for something to happen, and she hadn't really cared about what to hope for, partly because she hadn't known what possibilities existed.

The first time Evie could clearly remember she expected something good would happen to her, was when she researched into this one crucial word and she found his name. And then this sensation blended into one big picture: their first encounter in front of that building, how they all had become a family in such a short time.

They had made Evie hope for more, and this was the brightest memory she had to offer.

She looked quite puzzled when reality came back to her. When she realised that she was in Charles' room, on his couch with him and still holding hands with him. Evie looked into his eyes and he was probably the mirror of her own facial expressions. Wide-eyed he stared at her and then his face was only a hair's breadth away. It felt like a déjà vu and maybe she was only dreaming this, but she didn't care and broke through the short distance.

It was a chaste kiss, and it felt like their first one, but better somehow. Even though they were more pressed for time now than they were yesterday, she had the feeling that they had an eternity to explore the other one's lips, as they had just explored each other's minds. Charles peppered Evie's mouth with feathery kisses as he slid closer to her so that he was able to reach up with his hands and cradle her face with his fingers. Evie leaned forwards and rested her forehead against his as soon as they stopped to refill their lungs with air.

Evie hadn't realised she had closed her eyes, and as she opened them, she was greeted with Charles' light blue ones. With his mouth agape, he stared at her as if she was the most precious thing he had ever laid his eyes on. She felt a little uneasy as he examined her the way he did and averted her eyes, but he reacted quickly and conquered the newly expanded space between them.

She could feel his quick breath on her cheek and his hands that were now in her hair, massaging her scalp. She sighed onto his mouth and he took the opportunity to gently lick her bottom lip. Reluctantly, Evie opened her lips to let him explore the wet cavern of her mouth but soon found that she liked the sensation of his tongue on hers.

Evie couldn't help herself and reached out for him as well. Her hands lightly touched his shoulder and she could feel his lips turning into a smile as he moved his hands to her hips and pulled her towards him. She stilled her movements in shock as she noticed that he was now with his back to the backrest of the couch and she straddled his thighs.

Their breathing was heavy and Charles looked up at her with an apologising expression. "I'm sorry, too fast?", he asked, but she solely smirked and went right back to attacking his mouth.

He gasped and she took the chance to dip her tongue into his mouth for a change. She was inexperienced, yes, but she was also a quick learner so she just mimicked what Charles did only a few moments ago. He seemed to like it though, she could hear his occasional sighs and his hands were on her hips now, stroking her through the fabric of her shirt.

In the meanwhile she had busied her hands on his neck, caressing the soft skin she found there. Unconsciously, Evie began to slightly move her hips and Charles' fingers suddenly clawed into her skin. He was groaning softly so she thought he liked the sensation of her grinding down on him. She continued to do so and his head fell onto her shoulder, releasing a rather loud groan.

Evie smirked and softly caressed his scalp again. She wasn't sure how far he intended to go, but she was willing to give it a try. It surprised her when she felt his lips on her throat. He was rather gentle with her skin there and licked here and there. Evie craned her neck to give him better access and slid a littler closer to him. Charles slightly shuddered underneath her and exhaled against her skin. She stopped moving altogether and looked down at him. He now had put his arms loosely around her hips and tried to get his breathing back to normal.

"Are you sure about this, Evie? I don't want to rush you into anything." His voice was muffled by her neck, but it was clear enough so that she could hear the fear and concern that he had put into it.

She gently cradled his face and turned him back to make him look her in the eyes. "I trust you and ... I don't really want to stop this now. What about you?"

The smile was back on his face and he closed his eyes for a short amount of time. Evie closed hers as well and rested her forehead against his. "You're a remarkable woman, Evie."

She smirked, but didn't know what she should say now. She had no experience with these situations and she really hoped he wouldn't get her silence wrong. Charles, though, didn't give her the time to feel bad about her quietness. He was quick to have his mouth back on hers and then his hands were stroking her again on her hips, but now he pushed the hem of her shirt up so that he could caress her skin there. She reacted quickly with the same intensity. Evie thought it better if she quickened things a little, so she reached for her shirt and discarded herself of it swiftly.

Charles grinned and made short work of his own shirt, tossing it aside carelessly. She hadn't expected him to look as athletic as he did, but it was a nice surprise and she caught herself staring down at his upper body. She bit down on her tongue and focused on his face again. "You are allowed to stare, you know? I can't really blame you."

Evie huffed and busied his lips with hers again. Even though she knew she was only wearing her bra - a white boring one for god's sake - she didn't feel uneasy or nervous in the slightest. She had never been prude about her body, living with soldiers for a very long time had made her indifferent about changing in front of others.

They explored the newly exposed skin of each other with their hands. Evie kissed a trail along his cheekbones and down his jaw to his throat and nipped at his skin the way he had done earlier. She could feel his hands on her back at the clasp of her bra and she was rather surprised at how quickly he managed to get it open.

She sighed as she could feel his fingertips lightly touching the sides of her breasts and she encouraged him to touch her. It was adorable how he tried to be slow and so very gentle with his touches, but she was no fragile doll and she was becoming rather desperate for his touch.

Again, Evie tried to quicken things up and stroked a way from his belly down to his belt. He didn't stop her so she lightly pressed her palm into crotch. He tensed up, but relaxed shortly after and hummed. She took it as a sign to continue so she gently added pressure on the forming bulge underneath her palm.

He sighed. "Let's move to the bed, shall we?"

She nodded slightly and stood up. As she looked into his eyes she could see that the blue of his irises had become a small circle around his pupil. Evie was quite satisfied that she caused him to be in this state. He, the always so calm professor.

He then looked at her with a different expression. Sad, almost. She followed his eyes and saw that he was looking at scars that were scattered all over her skin. He gently touched the newest one, where Azazel had cut into her abdomen. There were a few round scars, caused by bullets. He leaned down and kissed each of them with such carefulness, it almost made her cry. But Evie didn't want to linger on memories that she tried to push into the farthest corner of her mind. She made him stand up and unbuttoned her trousers. Charles got the hint and took off his trousers as well.

As they reached his bed, they had undressed themselves completely. Silently, they decided to take things a little slower from that point on. Evie laid back in his bed, the fabric of his sheets felt so very comfortable on her skin. And then he was on top of her, kissing her lips gently and caressing her body.

Charles tried to memorise every point of her body when she would tense up or silently gasp his name. He couldn't help but feel proud at how he made this strong soldier a moaning mess under him.

He relished the feel of her breasts on his tongue and very gently nipped at the tips of them. Charles knew this night wouldn't be perfect. They didn't know each other's bodies yet, but he hoped they would soon find out what the other liked.

He could feel her becoming restless under him and he wasn't surprised when she shook him off her and rolled on top of him. He found it cute how she always mimicked him after he tried something new. For this night, he thought, it would be enough. They didn't need any stress here, so he let her do whatever she wanted to. Not that he complained, her touch felt great and he started to enjoy himself. What made him speechless then, was when she started to move her hips on his lap. She had done so earlier as well, but they had been fully clothed then. It felt like a whole new sensation now.

After a few moments, however, Charles could feel her becoming unsure of what to do and because he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable with anything, he switched their positions.

His lips now on her mouth again, he stroked her hip and moved to her leg to caress the soft skin on her inner thigh. He reluctantly moved to touch the spot between her legs. He looked into her face to see how her mouth had formed into a surprised 'O'. He smiled and started to gently rub the spot that would make her see stars if he did it right. He studied her facial expressions to see whenever she felt uncomfortable or if something hurt her.

When he felt that she was ready for him, he positioned himself between her legs and looked questioningly in her eyes, even though by now he was painfully hard and hoped dearly she felt the same way.

As Evie noticed that he had stopped his pleasurable ministrations, she opened her eyes to see him watching her, waiting for her consent.

"Please Charles, I want you." That was all he needed to hear. Slowly, he positioned himself at her entrance and very carefully pushed his tip inside. Evie urged him to go faster and moved her hips, but he would enjoy this moment and he would make her, too.

Evie bent her knees as he had pushed himself inside completely and stroked his back. Charles slightly pulled out and waited a second until he thrusted back inside, painfully slow, so Evie caught his lips in an open-mouthed kiss.

By the time he started to get faster, just as Evie wanted him to, he reached for that sweet spot between her legs and rubbed there again. She moaned loudly and for a moment he was afraid the others might hear them, but he shook off that thought and groaned loudly as he could feel himself getting closer. He started to rub her even faster and then Evie's legs were around his waist, the heels of her feet pressing down into his bottom to get him even deeper inside of her.

He could feel her inner walls convulsing around him and heard her gasp his name as she arched her back. He reached his own peak with a grunt and collapsed on top of her.

As they came down from their heights, Evie began to gently massage his scalp. Thinking he must be too heavy for her, he rolled onto her side.

They both felt a little sticky now, but they met each other in a tight hug anyway.

Evie and Charles relished the tender moment between them and almost forgot what laid ahead of them.