2 weeks passed slowly in Xavier's school for Gifted Youngsters. Yet slowly did not mean uneventfully.
It had only taken two more days after he had woken in the medical wing for him to be released from the lab and from his inhibitor collar. Although he had elected to wear a suppression bracelet, that was primarily his own choice. Finding it would be easier to focus on his emotional and physical healing if he didn't have to worry about the full strength of his powers when they became active due to his emotions.
That was something he was glad to have chosen, as proven that night when he left the lab and had been invited to go back to Remy's room to sleep. The Cajun seemed to have banished all thought that Spencer had tried to kill him, accepting wholly that he was back now. It wasn't every night but the nightmares became extremely frequent. Waking Spencer up in the middle of the night, his wings flying open and his mind taking a minute to reel in the hallucinations that had escaped due to the terror in his mind. IT usually took 30 seconds, before he felt the other man move, didge his wings with ease and wrap his arms around his waist. Pulling him sideways into an embrace that was allowed without interfering with his wings in the way.
It wasn't uncommon for the rest of the house's residents to wake up to find the Danger room in session before the earliest scheduled training session. Usually it would be Scott of Logan who discovered it and would walk up to the control room to find Remy sitting up there, watching through the glass at the scene below him. It seemed that whenever they found this, as much as everyone had known Spencer hated the cold, being born and raised in a desert state, he always elected for a snowy mountain like scenario. Remy would sit up there and watch as Spencer would take off the bracelet. The fighting skills the man contained as he found against the bots, never failed to amaze Remy. Having seen the awkward, borderline pacifist the man had been before, and now he moved with a grace so much like a skilled fighter. Remy had to admit if he tried to fight the man in front of him again, he would not stand a good or even fair chance of winning. Watching as Spencer would unleash his powers to destroy the bots until Spencer had upward of fifteen coming at him at once.
The first tie it had happened, Logan had been the one who had found them and had watched amazed with Remy as the man had moved in a fighting style so similar to the Cajun's. Moving his body in ways that he would never have been able to before, using the blades he'd picked up from the weapons room for the session.
"How long ya been here Gumbo?" Logan had asked upon finding them and realising just what was going on, as well as the slightly half asleep look on Remy's face.
"Been here a while, mon ami. Spencer had a bad dream, needed t' work de steam off. Could feel him gettin' angry, me." Remy had responded, followed by a yawn. Logan had laughed and patted his shoulder, walking away from him. Returning a few minutes later with a pot of coffee for the barely awake Cajun.
The sessions had happened with such frequency now, that only had Scott started scheduling Spencer in as an early morning session but he and Logan taking to arriving with coffee for Remy in the control room. Every time they asked, why didn't he just let Spencer go down by himself and he go back to sleep they were met with the same answer.
"Wasn't dere fo' him before, he's scared, and he needs Remy. Not leavin' him alone anymore." He would say, the words shut down any argument.
Along with the morning session, came his normal sessions. In these ones he still wore his bracelet, just dialled to the lowest setting. In them he would fight Logan, the one man who he had zero chance of accidentally killing when it came to using his full powers. It helped to let him release his anger, yet it also allowed him control over how he moved and the difference between the pure anger had been feeling as Phantom X and this power that was fuelled by many emotions that allowed him to focus and keep control of his mind while he fought.
After these sessions he would take a calming walk around the lake with Remy, who would talk to him about stories he'd never got to tell him before he went missing, making him laugh, be calm and happy. It helped Spencer to relax and feel comfortable again.
They were still cautious about who he was around. The students who still didn't have complete control of their powers and often got angry and frustrated at each other were a definite no. Although the team didn't need to use the plan they'd come up with to help him regain his composure, it didn't mean they didn't continue a variation of it. Whenever around Spencer they would think calmly and happily. Relive good memories with the man, if they felt angry or stressed, they took themselves outside or to the danger room, staying away from the still healing man. Not that he didn't appreciate all the work they were doing for hi, but Spencer was starting to feel like he was being treated as if he was made of glass. No one could get angry around him, even Remy had tried to damper his emotions, pulling down the protective anger he felt whenever he saw the scars or the way Spencer would flinch away after a rough night.
He had daily appointments with the professor to help him understand his emotions, especially now as an empath he could take in other emotions and manipulate them and his own. He needed to be able to deal with his own feelings and separate the ones that were foreign from the ones he truly felt. They tried to steer away from talking about what happened when the man had been missing, as it was a sure way to get him to lock his emotions down and his anger to build up as he would think about what he had done and who had made him do it. Then inevitably he'd feel guilty about just what he'd carried out. They focused on working through his feelings and building shields that would withstand in day to day life as well as the control to strengthen them against attacks to prevent anyone getting into his head who hadn't been invited.
There were some things that he refused to talk about, things that the X-men believed he was speaking with Belle about. Remy couldn't help but be relieved that the woman had stuck around for so long. It wasn't uncommon to see her and Spencer walking through the grounds or in the library talking. Always in hushed tones, yet always after their talk, Spencer walked around a little bit lighter, a little bit happier, and comfortable with himself. It made Remy relieved to see the man slowly dealing and accepting what had been done, moving past it bit by bit.
The worst thing Remy thought about the whole mess that Spencer had gone through, it had to be the down days. Someday the young Genius was full of life, happy and calm to be back home, to be somewhere safe, he was learning fast as he always had. He had people there to support him, yet there were still blackdays. Days when Spencer would refuse to get out of bed, when he would wrap his wings around himself and just refuse to move, only leaving the bed for the bathroom. Never venturing outside the room.
The first time this had happened Remy had panicked, thinking there was something wrong with him that he didn't want Remy to see. But when he's opened up his emotions to the man he had felt the grief, self-loathing, guilt and the black hole feeling that came with a deep depression. He had good days, but they weren't all that way. Remy came to realise this, one day could be great, Spencer could be laughing and playing with him, recovering better, then the next day he wouldn't want to do anything.
Remy had a routine for days like this. When Spencer woke and Remy could tell, he would kiss the man's head and help him up into the shower – as much as he believed a bath would be better, the wings made it impossible. He would help him get washed, letting his lean on him before leaving him to dry and dress in clean lounge clothes before going downstairs and getting them some snacks and coffee. Usually in a thermos so he had enough for the day. The food he brought up was never proper food – never sandwiches and fruit, anything that could be called proper food was not allowed. He brought up snacks, chocolate, candy, anything to satisfy the sweet tooth in Spencer. When he got there, he's pour the first cup of coffee, help the man rearrange in bed so eh was comfortable and stick a movie into the TV, let them cuddle up together, the blankets pulled high as they watched the movies. Not paying attention to the screen as much as they did to the closeness. On these days Remy made sure to think positive, he told Spencer stories, reminded him of things they had done together, made him laugh any way he knew how. Showed him tricks and just let him be. Allowed him to work through the storm of emotions himself, not adding the pressure of needing to pretend to be okay.
When days like that ended, Remy would cuddle him close, sooth his hair back and remind him, that what he had done is not who he is. Remy would tell him all the same things Spencer had told him when he had admitted his involvement in the Morlock Massacre. With days like that usually came the worst nightmares. Yet Remy never even entertained the idea of leaving Spencer alone.
It was following a day like those that Remy woke up to find himself alone in the bed. Not that unusual if Spencer had woken from a silent nightmare and took to pacing the room to calm down. Yet what had him sitting up was the fact he couldn't hear the footsteps that normally accompanied the pacing.
"Spencer?" He asked as he sat up, looking around, finding the door to the balcony open. Grabbing the blanket to wrap it around himself as he walked out to the balcony, the sun just barely beginning to rise against what looked like it would be a cloudy day. "Penny?" he called again as he stepped out, seeing the man he was searching for sitting on the balcony railing, His back facing the drop below, his wings stretched out wide, the only real place he could do so to their full extent was outside.
"Y' bien?" Remy asked as he walked over, seeing the slightly blank look on Spencer's face, worrying that they may have two dark days in a row.
"I had a thing. In my dreams." He muttered, his face screwing up at the way he spoke his sentence, obvious not saying what he meant to.
"Y' had a vision?" Remy asked, having discussed Spencer's clairvoyance before today and seeing how uncomfortable it made the man, knowing about the future and seeing everything that could go wrong - it scared him.
Spencer nodded and sighed, shaking his head in a silent decline to Remy's next question on whether he would like to talk about it.
"I was thinking though, I'm feeling better, I can control myself now. What do you think about inviting the team out for a week? They can stay in the boathouse, I know you and Scott have been talking about us moving down there." He said quietly, biting his lip, obviously nervous about the request he was putting forth.
"T'ink da if y'r ready den we can do dat. Mais, only if y'r sure y' can handle it. Gunna be hard f' y' Penny, dey have missed y' a lot. Dere will be questions." He said softly as he walked closer to him, touching his thighs lightly to bring him back to himself when he saw that he was starting to drift in his own mind.
"I know, they are going to have questions, they're profilers, but I want to see them Rems, I need to see them." He said softly and leant his forehead against the man's shoulder.
"d'accord Penny, Remy'll call Hotch f' y' today." He said and pressed a brief kiss to his lips.
All was arranged within a week. Remy called Hotch and let the older man know that Spencer was feeling well enough and had requested them to come up. The Spencer had emailed Strauss, forwarding his resignation to her and applying for his former team to have a week off to see him after his 'recovery' from kidnapping. With the pull of a few strings he got what he asked for before Hotch even got around to asking Erin. The team was placed on a week-long leave that would not be interrupted at all. Put down as an emergency family issue.
They were meeting them at the train station, Logan and Scott bringing two extra cars as well as Spencer and Remy's one. A way to fit all the team members in as well as Will, Henry, and Jack.
This meeting was the reason that Spencer was pacing his and Remy's bedroom while the Cajun watched on amused on the bed. The harness that usually belonged to warren had been modified slightly to fit spencer and allowed him to go outside without worrying about reactions to his wings, and fear from any who might recognise them as belonging to the mutant murderer Phantom X.
"Penny, calm down, S'il vous plait" Remy tried to make the man relax, standing to stop his pacing, the brown eyes fluttering up to him. The contacts they'd had made by Hank in place that gave Spencer back his eye colour and black pupils instead of his white eyes. As much as the man was saying this was in case people recognised him, Remy knew partially it was because he was afraid how his team may react to the news that he was now so physically mutant.
"I can't Remy, there is so much that could go wrong. What if they don't accept me now? What if someone recognises me? What if they try to turn me in when they find out who I am?" He asked, his voice rising as he started to panic.
"Mon amour, dey ain't gunna turn y' in, Remy won't let dem, neither will Wolvie or Scotty. Dey miss y' and dey love y', y'r all family. Dey will accept y'. No one is gunna recognise y'. y' don't have y' wings, y' have contacts, and y aren't wearing your cloak." He pointed out, easily dispersing all Spencer's fears. "Now let Remy help y' finish dressin'. Y' need a shirt before y' can go out." He grinned slyly, "much as I like y' like dis, t'ink y' may get a bit cold, non?" He grinned and helped him into his shirt, making sure it was tucked in a way that hid his wings. Giving him a motorcycle jacket that was bulky enough and would cover all traces of his wings.
"come on mon Coeur, lets go get y' amis." He smield slinging an arm around Spencer's neck.