The park was empty. Dimly lit. Snowing. Fucking cold.

But Toby seemed to be having a good time all the same. She was running around, acting like the five year old she was, without a care in the world. John squinted as she ducted behind the long plastic slide and out of his sight a moment. The flurries was making it difficult, but between her joyful shrieks and the sound of her boots crunching through the snow, it was pretty easy to gauge her whereabouts. He was sitting on a swing, idly swaying back and forth as the cold wind whipped around him.

He had taken her here hundreds of times. Usually after school or on weekends. Most of the time, she just let him sit there. If there was a crowd, they'd skip it. Just go home and do their homework.

Toby frowned from the top of the slide. Her brother was kind of a strange duck. 'Antisocial' her mom called it. 'Angsty' is what her dad called it. Neither really felt right to her. Antisocial was when they didn't want to be around people. John wanted to be around people. He had a girlfriend and roommates now, so she deduced he couldn't possibly be antisocial. Her dad's word meant he was a weenie. And her big brother was in no way a weenie. Toby slid down the slide and ran over to him.

"John!"

He glanced up but didn't move as she hopped in to the swing next to his. "What's up?"

"Nate's coming tomorrow. He's your friend, right?"

"Yeah, I guess he is." Pyro still wasn't terribly thrilled about Nathaniel coming to visit, but he supposed it could've been worse… he couldn't imagine how at the moment, but he was sure something would come to him. "Why?"

She shrugged and began propelling herself forward with her legs. "I dunno. You just look kind of lonely I guess."

"I do?"

"Yeah. But, I mean, you got friends now, right?" Her brown eyes blinked up at him curiously.

John thought about it a moment before he nodded. "Yeah. I do."

"And you have a Lydia, so, you're happy, right?"

"Relatively."

The girl paused her movements. "What does-"

"Pretty much." He rephrased for her. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I dunno." Toby repeated. "Just something mom said."

John squinted at her. "What did mom say?"

Her face flushed faintly and she shrugged. "Nothing." She wouldn't meet his gaze. "Just somethin'."

"Toby, what did she say?" He frowned at her.

"She said you're better away." The girl's face was growing darker, either from the cold or shame, he wasn't sure. But he went on listening. "That you've become less anti-so-shell."

"Antisocial." He echoed. His jaw clenched. "When did she tell you this?"

"She didn't, she was on the phone."

"With who?"

"I dunno."

John was getting really sick of that phrase. "Toby, I have friends. I'm happy. Don't worry about me."

"Are you happy to be away from us?"

"Well, Wade maybe-" He stopped when she looked sharply at him. His smirk fell and he sighed. "Not you. Or mom…" When Toby's face slackened, he nudged her with his elbow. "How about a push before we head home?"

The child grinned at him and nodded eagerly. "Yeah!"

-In California-

Lydia had fallen asleep on the couch sometime around four thirty in the morning. This was a mistake for two reasons; one, the den had a large picture window that brightened the room the moment the sun came up, and two, her grandmother had a tendency to check in on her before she went to work at six.

When she walked in to her granddaughter's room and room an empty bed, she panicked. "Lydia?" She called. When she got no answer, she started toward the kitchen. It too was barren. "Lydia!" She screeched frantically.

The redhead bolted up from the couch. "What?" Her voice was low and tired, and Eris didn't catch it from the other room.

"Lydia! Where are you?"

The young woman shook her head, trying to rid herself of the remaining drowsiness that hazed her vision. "In here!" She shouted back.

Sophie let out a sigh of relief and quickly darted into the den. "Oh. There you are dear."

Blurry blue eyes looked up at her. "Huh?"

"Go on," The elderly woman placed a kiss on Lydia's forehead, "Back to bed with you then."

The young human blinked and staggered off the couch and into the hall. She all but crashed into her bed and wouldn't wake until several hours later. Several hours later, was of course, when he grandfather woke and demanded she join him for brunch.

"Brunch?" She asked skeptically. "Like in town, brunch?"

"Well, yeah, babe, neither of us can cook."

Lydia glared at him. "I resent that."

Nick shrugged his favorite battered sports coat on, "Resent it all you want, it won't change anything." He held out her jacket.

With a sigh, the redhead accepted and put it on as well. "Fine. But I'm not eating the fruit."

"No one eats the fruit." His hand was slightly shaky, but he managed to lock the door all the same before leading her over to his teal 1978 Mustang.

She smiled at it and ran her fingers over the curve of the hood. Plopping into the passenger seat, Lydia smirked at him. "Think you're ever gonna let me drive this thing?"

He scoffed at her. "Over my dead body, Liddy. I love this thing more than your mother."

Lydia let out a shocked, bitter laugh. "Ouch."

"Meh." Nicolas turned it on and they listened to the engine rumble a moment. "Shall we?"

She nodded. "We shall. Drive on, old man." The back of his headrest received a light smack from her and he did as he was told as she changed the subject. "So, what've you and gram been up to?"

"Not much," He shrugged. No need to concern her with work related worries. So he simply said, "Not much. She's got her students and I've got my dynamite."

Lydia snickered. "Good know you're keeping retirement exciting, gramps."

"I try." He smirked, "How 'bout you? How're classes going?"

"Hard. Really, really hard." She told him. She leaned back in her seat with a groan, "I swear, I am like, one essay away from quitting and running off to the circus."

"They ever get your scholarship dealt with?" Her grandfather didn't look away from the road as he spoke. Instead, he reached behind him and grabbed a beat up old golf cap from the back seat and plopped it down on his head.

"Yeah, but I'm living with Nate and Bren now."

"Isn't John their roommate?"

She flushed and cleared her throat. A shamed blush crept up her neck, but she didn't deny it. "Yeah."

"So you're living with John?" Nick's hands tightened on the steering wheel.

"Yeah." She answered sheepishly. "Have been for a couple months now."

Nicolas shook his head. "He treats you right?"

"Freakishly well."

"Good. Because if he so much as looks at you the wrong way-"

"I keep my gun in my drawer, gramps," She smirked at him and shot him a sly look, "He won't give me any trouble."

He grinned and shook her shoulder roughly. "That's my girl!"

-In Maine-

John awoke to yellow eyes glaring at him from the foot of his bed. He blinked passively back at them. This was hardly anything new; Mystique had a habit of hating someone until they woke. The smart ones usually sensed the evil and woke quickly.

He sat up, the blanket pooling around his waist as he met her glare. "What?"

"A human, Pyro?" Disgust laced her normally monotonous voice. "Really?"

He sighed and glanced at the digital alarm clock next to his bed. "Yeah. You couldn't wait for the sun to come up to have this conversation?"

"Would you rather have it with October sitting between us at the breakfast table?" She asked. Her face, while its naturally beautiful navy hue, was warm with rage. They shouldn't have even had to have this conversation, and she had never thought they would. Disappointment took the place of anger and she pursed her lips. "Why a human?"

He shrugged. The air was rather cool on his bare chest and he scratched his neck. Crossing over to his dresser, he spoke, "I don't know. It just sort of happened."

"She seduced you?"

John let out a snort. "No." He couldn't imagine Lydia seducing anyone… well, anyone outside a bathroom stall. "It wasn't like that."

"Then just what was it like, Pyro?" She snapped. Her voice was scathing and he winced as he pulled a shirt over his head. Mystique went on, her tone quiet and cool, "She's below you. She's one of them. How could you-"

"Ya know what?" John spun around to face her with a frown. "Get over it."

A pained look flickered across her face a moment before it went back to its emotionless mask. It was one of the most heart wrenching things he'd ever seen. Mystique had been like a mother –an emotionally distant, violent, somewhat psychotic mother, but a mother none the less- to him when he was in the Brotherhood. She had save his life on more than one occasion, taught him to defend himself, taught him about himself. He dropped his gaze to the floor with shame as she spoke.

"Fine." She said in a clipped, unwavering voice, "Pretend like it doesn't matter you're dating an inferior. See if I care."

"Raven-"

She rounded on him with bared teeth. "Don't call me that!"

"You wouldn't love Leon any less if he was a human, would you?" He tried, but she only scoffed. "It doesn't matter to her. It doesn't matter to me, Mystique, please just…"

"Just what, Pyro?"

"Just give her a chance."

She let out a scoff. With her arms crossed, her posture was definitely more defensive, and he noted, a tad more dangerous. "Why should I?"

"Because she gave me one."

Her yellow eyes flashed curiously at him. "Oh?"

"She knows about the Brotherhood," John expanded, leaning against the dresser casually. The wood was worn against his fingers and he delicately ran them along the handles. He swallowed, "She knows pretty much everything. She doesn't care."

"Of course she cares. She's lying to you. You just can't see it because you're…" It was her voice that trailed off this time and she took a second to search for the right word. "You just can't see it because you're horny."

"It is not just 'cause I'm horny!"

"Yes it is." She told him calmly. "She's probably the first girl to show you her tits since you left the Brotherhood, isn't she?"

John flushed faintly. "No." Lydia really wasn't. He had a few one night stands since the Brotherhood. He was a relatively good looking, healthy young man. It was only natural he seek out companionship. Slutty, slutty companionship. "She's not."

"Really?" Mystique asked skeptically, "Have you two have sex?"

"I really don't want to-"

"Have you?"

"Once." He caved. "In a bathroom stall at a concert."

She frowned at him. What kind of self respecting young woman had sex in a bathroom stall? Not that she hadn't done it countless times before herself, but that didn't matter because she was an adult, and more importantly, she wasn't human. "Is that right?"

"Yeah." He smiled, similar to the way Wade had been smiling at him the previous day. Cocky and knowingly. "She didn't even complain when I burned her."

Mystique felt a smirk rise to her lips. "See. Incompatible. You're too advanced for her, Pyro, just because you can pretend doesn't mean your body can."

He grit his teeth. "Mystique-" John paused. He wondered what the point of fighting with her was. She wasn't going to change her mind. "Why do you care so much?"

"Because I raised you better than that!" She hollered. Her voice jumped off the walls and seemed to grow louder as fell back on their ears. His jaw dropped as her eyes widened. A faint heat rose on her cheeks again and she looked away from him. "We gave you everything and you run off with a human the first chance you get."

Comprehension dawned in his dark eyes. "Oh." He slowly made his way over to her and put his hand carefully on her scaled arm. It was one of the rare moments they had where physical contact wasn't in violence, and it was nice, if not a little forced. "Mystique, I'm not doing this to hurt you. I met Lydia and I liked her. I wasn't even thinking of you."

"Exactly." She spat, brushing his touch off bitterly. "You forgot everything you learned from the Brotherhood the minute you left it, didn't you?"

John sighed and rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Of course not, it's just… some of the things you guys said kind of… were kind of wrong, Mystique."

"Wrong?" A laugh escaped her blue hued lips, "What? What were we wrong about?"

"They're not all like that, I mean some of them are, but lots of them aren't. I've met a few humans who seem to really care about mutants. About me." He tried for her arm again but was again denied. "I just don't want to think of everyone I meet as the enemy anymore, Raven, it's too hard."

Her hands met his chest in a hard push that knocked him off his feet. He winced as he hit the ground and her foot forced him back to the carpeted floor when he tried to sit up. "My name," She growled, her gleaming eyes boring into his dark ones, "is Mystique."

"Fine." He swallowed, "But I think I'm going to stick with John for now."

Mystique's expression shifted once again back to disgust as she leaned back. Delivering a harsh boot to his ribs, she left him there. He stared up at his ceiling a long moment, feeling the familiar pulse of pain in his side, before a light knocking was heard at the door.

"For the record, John," Leon leaned in the door frame. He twirled the belt of his bright orange silk robe casually. "I think it's very healthy you've got yourself a girlfriend. Even if she is a human. Especially because she's human." His dark red lips twisted into a smirk, "It means you're maturing. Now you just have to wait for Raven to catch up with your ideals."

John didn't look up. But he did answer. "Thanks, Apollo."

"No problem. Now get up, breakfast will be ready soon."

The college student did as he was told and followed the man down stairs.