He brought her to a dark looking hotel room, and told her to get some rest because they were catching a flight in the next few hours. He kept watching her like a hawk as if half expecting her to take off and leave.

She looked at him wearily and said, "There's no need to look at me like that. I'm your prisoner and don't have any plans to escape. Moreover, I don't have any money on me, and I don't know where we are or how to go back to the mansion. I'm really tired and just want to sleep."

He scowled at her then. "I didn't wish for things to become like this. I asked you to leave with me but you stubbornly and foolishly refused. The last time you were not in my protection, the humans took you away for their experiments. Do you think I can simply just leave you again? And with Charles this time? He can't even protect Raven in Paris, let alone you. You don't know what I've been through the past ten years without you. Everything that I'm doing is for you as well. It's to secure your future too."

"I may not remember the past, but I can still think straight. I've also been thinking that there has to be a good and valid reason to explain the very fact that I ran away from you, even though I told you I loved you and was pregnant with your baby. And I am guessing that the reason is to save our child and me from the path of destruction that you seem fond of walking on. So please do not tell me about how rotten your life had been the past ten years. I don't even have any memories of what happened before those ten years." She snapped at him then. She was not in the mood for arguments and had wanted to rest but he just kept pushing her buttons.

She closed her eyes and laid in bed after saying her piece. She was feeling rather angry with him as well. She heard him sigh and mutter to himself, "Still fond of having the last word".

She then felt the mattress move slightly as he lay next to her. She turned her back to him at that moment and hoped he would not start talking to her about anything else.

Fortunately, he didn't and she fell asleep very quickly.

She woke up shortly thereafter, screaming aloud because she had a nightmare about Charles and Raven being chased by an angry mob.

She felt Erik's arm around her, pulling her closer to him as he murmured to her, "Everything is ok. It's all just a bad dream." She didn't pull away and in truth, she felt very comforted to be close to him. It simply made her feel safe. There was a vague memory of her being with him in this manner previously and she could tell that he missed it as well, because he buried his face into her hair and hugged her tightly, telling her never to leave him again.

"Please give up your vendetta Erik. I will stay with you always if you do." She turned to face him and tried pleading with him.

He sighed in frustration and kept silent.

"Deep inside, you know that your future self had sent Logan back here to change the present, and it's to make you a better and happier person. From what Logan had said, you were not happy and were alone in the future. And since I run away from you again, you must have hoped that Logan could persuade yourself in this time to stop that from happening."

"Let's not discuss this anymore. We have a long day ahead tomorrow as well as a flight to catch. Goodnight." He replied stubbornly and turned his back towards her.

She knew then that it would be difficult to ever change his mind and therefore, she decided to give up for now and closed her eyes again to sleep.

…

He didn't really speak much to her the next morning. He woke her up after he had showered, changed and ordered breakfast. Once she was ready and had finished breakfast, he simply ushered her out of the door, into a taxi and they proceeded to the airport.

She saw that he had some documents and airtickets with him and just followed him quietly onto the plane. He held onto her hand while they were at the airport and she knew that he was thinking and strategising all the way.

She wondered what it was that he was planning to do at Washington D.C. but thought it better than to ask.

"If I told you to stay at a particular location and wait for me to return, would you attempt to leave instead?" he asked, but because it sounded more like a question to himself, she didn't think she ought to answer. He laughed to himself then and just shook his head.

"I don't like to make you my prisoner, but you simply won't listen and understand how dangerous the situation really is for us. Look at what happened to you when you ran away from me the last time. If not for your abilities, you would be dead like the rest of our team."

"Stop treating me like a child." She retorted. Somehow her replies to him have been getting bolder as well. Something inside her seemed to want to fight back against him, to resist his protection. It felt like part of her inner nature really.

He frowned at her and promptly decided to stop talking to her again. He still held onto her hand and she chose to look out of the window then.

Thankfully it was a short flight. They soon reached Washington within the hour and he promptly checked them into a hotel.

"Are you hungry?" he finally asked.

"No." she replied without looking at him.

He reached out to brush her hair back from her face, and looked at her in the eye, "Please just stop fighting with me."

That was his greatest weapon against her, she thought, his eyes and the way he looked at her crumbled the exterior structures that she had put around her heart. She had wanted to harden herself and be defiant to him as much as she could, to show him that she was displeased. But upon seeing the love that he had and showed towards her, the defences that she had mentally set up were quickly destroyed.

"Did we fight a lot in the past as well?" she found herself asking instead.

"Now and then." He said with a wry smile.

"About the same stuff?"

"Yes."

"You simply won't give it up?"

"It's not that simple Charis… if I give up fighting, and humanity succeeds in oppressing us, I would lose you as well."

"I do see where you're coming from but I can't constantly live on an edge like this. Even though I can't remember much about Trask Industries or my life before that, I recall feeling quite serene without my memories and I believe that that's what I really want – to be at peace. You need to let me go Erik. If you think that I will be captured again to be experimented on, then let me stay with Charles. He mentioned that he would want to set up his school again and with his powers back, he would be able to hide us from the humans."

"We should never need to hide ourselves!" he started to say angrily and she held his hand in hers to calm him down. That seemed to work because his rage dissipated then.

"Let me think through this. I have some matters to sort out here. After I'm done, perhaps you could go to Charles…" he said looking rather pained as he mentioned the last few words.

"He promised to help me restore my memories Erik. I do want to remember most of it again, especially the use of my telekinesis."

"Ok, I understand. Shall we have lunch now then? I'll order room service."

She agreed and they had a very pleasant lunch, much to her surprise. He talked to her about literature, history and other miscellaneous issues and he was very pleasant unlike his other persona whom she had come to realise was Magneto.

...

A/N: Thank you again for those who have reviewed the story. Hope to see more reviews :) Am nearing the end of the story...