"Lindsey?" Caleb asked, knocking on her door as he opened to see if she was in. she was sitting on the edge of her bed, a box of tissues beside her, clutching her pillow. Her face was red and puffy from tears. She looked at him with a blank stare. Her stare evolved into a little bit of a scowl.

"Yeah?" she offered.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Dumb question, he scolded himself inward the moment he thought it.

"Far from it," she admitted shaking her head, looking as if she would break any moment after that. Whenever she was like this, she had always sought Caleb out and let him be her crying shoulder. Now, she looked as if she were completely indifferent to him even being in the room. She wasn't open and talking, but just sitting, staring infinitely into the wall.

"Sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" he asked hopefully.

"Not yet."

"When are you going to be ready, Lin?" he pleaded.

"I don't know if I'll ever be ready."

"You can't keep making us wait like this," he insisted.

"What do you want me to do? Just draw a name out of a hat?" she demanded.

"I want you to do what's in your heart," he replied. He didn't mean to sound so cliché but he was telling her the truth.

"You want the honest truth, Caleb?"

"Of course."

"I can't choose between the two of you. I love you both. Nathan was my first love, we were gonna get married, but I thought he was dead all of this time. You were there for me when I needed you. You should me love when I had no one left. I fell in love with you too. I don't know who I'm supposed to be faithful to. Have I done Nathan wrong by moving on without knowing he was gone? Have I done you wrong because I still love Nathan? How can I choose?" he watched her as she vented. He wanted to go and wrap his arm around her but he did not feel like the situation permitted him to do so.

"Lindsey, you haven't done anything wrong. It's not your fault at what happened; you didn't ask for any of this—none of did! But it did. Now, you have to make the choice. I can tell you right now that we both want to be with you, so that means it's up to you to settle this," he replied. A situation this delicate required blunt honesty, even if it hurt. Caleb didn't want to hurt Lindsey, but the pain was necessary for resolution.

"You think that I don't know that, Caleb? I've been going over the scenarios in my head since Nathan got here! If I pick you, I'll hurt him. If I pick him, I'll hurt you. I can't win."

"Stop worrying about hurting us! If you love him, just tell us how you feel! You're doing more damage by making us wait like this!" Caleb burst. She looked at him with disdain.

"Do you want me to pick him?" she asked, shocked.

"No. If you want to know I want I'll tell you. I want to be with you, Lin. You're the best thing that's happened to me. I want to stay with you and see where we go. I don' know if we're supposed to be together or not. I know that something like this is worth the risk."

"Worth the risk of hurting someone I love?"

"Yes."

"How can you say that?"

"That's how I feel. I've always been nothing but honest with you, Lindsey. This is how I feel. Believe it or not, I do care how Nathan feels too. He's my friend and I don't want to see him hurt. At this point in my life, you mean so much more than he does. If I had to choose between the two of you I would pick you in a heartbeat."

"Yeah—he would do the same," she realized aloud.

"Of course he would. We're both in love with you Lindsey. We're both good men and will treat you right as long as you'll have us. I can't say that either one of us loves you more than the other, but I know that you have to love one of us more. You have to choose between us, Lin. Throw the consequences out the window for once and listen to what your heart is telling you. I only want to see you happy…even if I have to be hurt."

"I'm not gonna choose right now!" she protested.

"How much longer do you need?"

"As long as it takes!" she snapped.

"That's not fair to any of us, Lin. Do you love me?"

"What?"

"Answer the question. Ignore the variables and circumstances and just give me an answer. Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"I love you too. No matter what you decide, I will always love you," he stood before and put his hands on her shoulders, looking her square in the eyes. "There is nothing you could ever do to make me love you less." He wrapped her in his arms and she returned his embrace, sobbing heavily.

"I love you so much," she whispered. He stood and headed for the door. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to give you a little more time to think. I didn't come here to win you over, but to let you know how I feel," he narrowed his eyes, making sure she didn't get the wrong impression.

"I know," she smiled. It was the first he'd seen her smile since Nathan had arrived. He returned it with warmth in his soul.

"Let me know if you need anything," he added sincerely as he walked out.

"Caleb!" she stopped him. He turned around hopefully and looked at her.

"Yes?"

"If you see Nathan, could you tell him to come here, that I want to talk to him?" he fought the urge to wear the feeling in his gut on his face. He knew that she either wanted to tell Nathan that she wanted to be with Caleb or with him. Her final decision was about to be unveiled, and she wanted to tell Nathan first.

Doesn't matter. If it's supposed to be it will happen. If not, you stay true to what you said, he reminded himself.

"Yeah, I'll let him know," he walked out and headed out to find Nathan.

Nathan sat in the room that they'd given him, cleaning his guns and doing an inventory on the supplies that he had left. The battle with the Sentinels had left him pretty dry on grenades and ammo. His reflection on the battle left him awestruck at how powerful Lindsey had become.

Nightmare…that's what they call her.

It wasn't just Lindsey either. Caleb had demonstrated feats of power Nathan hadn't thought him capable of. He had done away with Sentinels as if they were tin cans. The X-Men had certainly given them some formidable training. Nathan's thoughts fell on Deadpool. Did his former instructor even know he was alive? Probably. Did he care? Maybe. One thing was for sure: if and when he and Deadpool met again, only one of them would be walking away alive.

There was a knock at his door.

"Who is it?"
"It's me," the voice belong to Caleb.

"What do you want?"

"Lindsey wants to talk to you," he said. Nathan's ears perked up. Had he heard correctly? Had Lindsey chosen Caleb and now wanted to talk to Nathan to let him down easily? After all, it was Caleb's arms that she ran to when the battle was over. It was him that she went to for comfort and consolation. She had already chosen him over Nathan in that instance. He couldn't be sure; he'd have to go and find out.

"Okay. Thank you," he put his guns down on the desk and went into his bathroom to wash the grease off of his hands. He looked himself in the mirror. He was not the man that she was with so many months ago.

So many? Has it really been so long? In all honesty, he felt as if he'd lived an entire lifetime without her during his time at Sheol, training under Deadpool. It was like the same for her, leaving her home town and coming to train as an X-Man. He'd been so hard on her at first, completely insensitive to the fact that she'd been through a lot too. He'd have to apologize for that. Right now, he just so curious as to what she had to say. He headed towards her room. Every hall and corridor made exceedingly more nervous than the moment before. He wasn't mentally prepared for any kind of answer. There was so much emotion tied up in the entire situation.

Get a hold of yourself. You came here to get her back and that's what you're going to do. If you love her, you'll go for it, forgive, forget and move on.

He knocked on her door, each thud pounding in his soul.

"Come in," he heard her welcome him softly through the door. She was sitting at her table by the window, the light enveloping her, giving her an ambient glow. Her red hair shone like fire in the rays of light. Her blue eyes sparkled like sapphires despite their redness. She looked like she'd tried to compose herself from crying. It was still obvious. He'd seen her cry before and knew what she did to hide it.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked. He felt dumb saying anything at all.

"Yeah," was all that she said, remaining stationary at the table. At last, she motioned to the table and then to edge of the bed, an invitation to sit down. He looked at her and she looked at him. He wanted to hold her so bad it hurt. He deliberately wore his heart on his sleeve. He wanted her to know exactly where she stood with him. He wanted her to know that he wanted her back.

"You talked to Caleb?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes I did. Did he say anything?"

"No—only that you wanted to talk to me," he replied.

"Good. I know that we haven't had too much time to talk since you got back. Things have been a little crazy lately," she admitted.

"Yeah, who knew that Sentinels were going to tear down your door?" he said, trying to lighten the mood at least an iota.

"That's not what I meant," she frowned.

Smooth, Nathan…smooth…

"I know I was—I'll just let you talk," he stopped himself from digging a bigger hole.

Without words she came over to him and gave him a huge hug. She held him close and leaned her head against his shoulder. He hugged her back, held her so close his nostrils were filled with the sweet, flowery aroma of her hair. His heart began to flutter in his chest as his whole body radiated with warmth. She let go and took a step back.

"I just wanted to say that I am so glad that you're alive. You don't know how hard it was to live thinking that you were gone," she bit her lip.

"They told me that they had you tortured and executed—I think I have a pretty good idea," he said, fighting the urge to shudder from the recollection of bad memories. She smiled at him the sweetest smile he'd ever seen.

"I don't know how to say this, or even what to say, Nathan," she shook her head, dumbfounded by how honest she was trying to be. "I need to know where you stand."

"Where I stand?"

"As far as we are concerned," she specified.

"Lindsey, I know that I overreacted when I found out that you and Caleb were together. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have flown off the handle like that."

"It's okay. This is a lot for all of us to take in at once. It's hard to keep from reacting out of impulse," she looked at him, waiting for him to answer the rest of the question.

"Lindsey, I still love you. I always have loved you and I always will. You are the most important person in my life. It was the thought that there was a possibility that I would see you again that kept me going when I was in Sheol. I still want to be with you. Even if we don't get to pick up where we left off…if we have to start over from the beginning, I'd do that."

"What about Caleb?"

"This isn't about Caleb; this is about us," he replied, trying to mask his bitterness.

"I love him," she stated, plain as day and with no reserve. The words hit him like an arrow to the heart. He swallowed hard and looked at her.

"Do you?" he asked.

"I do. He has been more than a friend to me, Nathan. I wouldn't even be here—be alive—if it weren't for him. He was all I had for months and I fell in love with him. At first, I kept telling myself that it wouldn't have happened if I had thought he were alive. The more I think about it, it wouldn't matter if I knew you were in Sheol or not. My feelings for Caleb are real; he's not some next-best-thing that I settled for because what I really wanted was gone," Lindsey's monologue began to fire up Nathan's emotions all over again. He kept them in check, where they belonged.

"Are you sure? Are you just saying that because you feel guilty?"

"Nathan, I still love you. I'll always love you—but I'm with Caleb now and I need to stay faithful to the commitment that I'm in right now," she fidgeted nervously as if it were the hardest thing that she had ever had to say.

"You can really say that you love both of us? And that your commitment to Caleb is more important that your commitments to me?" he demanded. She sighed, beaten.

"Nathan, you're the love of my life; we both know that…"

"Then why can't we be together?"

"Maybe we will," she offered.

"What are you talking about?" he threw his hands up, confused by what she was saying.

"I need to stay with Caleb, that's the right thing to do. I don't know for sure if we're going to be together forever or not. If it doesn't work out between he and I maybe we…"

"Don't even say that, Lindsey. Listen to yourself for a second! I'm not going to wait around for you to see if things work out. This is my life you're making a choice on too!"

"It's all of our lives," she protested.

"Exactly my point! If you want to be with Caleb, fine. Be with Caleb. I'll be devastated but I'll respect your decision and move on. If you want to be with me, be with me. Why wouldn't you pick what you really want?"

"What about what's right?" she asked.

"When it comes to love, it's not always about what's right and what's wrong. What do you want?"

She paused and thought for a second, as if she were struggling to say out loud what was going on in her heart. Tears began to well up in her eyes and her lip began to quiver.

"I want you," she admitted with sobs.

"Then you need to tell Caleb that," he shook his head.

"Am I just supposed to drop everything that we have like a box of rocks?"

"Yes."

"Pick up where I left off with you?"

"Yes."

"Pretend that he and I never even happened?" she was near hysterical.

"No. I don't want you to forget everything that the two of you have been through. I'm not even going to say that you two getting together was a bad thing."

"He's going to be so hurt," she realized.

"He's prepared for that," he assured.

"How do you know?"

"I know that I have been preparing for the worst as far as I'm concerned. He'd be a fool to not even consider the possibility that you might pick me," he pointed out.

"I want to be with you, but I still want him to be a part of my life, Nate."

"He may not be okay with that, Lin."

"What about you?"

"If you say I'm yours, I'm yours. You can be friends with whoever you want, whether you used to date him or not. I care about Caleb too. I still want to be his friend. I hope that it works out that way, but you need to prepare for him to not take it this well," he tried to keep things as real as possible. He knew that Lindsey appreciated it, but he knew that she didn't always deal with it so well.

"I don't want to have to hurt him or give him up," she admitted.

"You may not have a choice, Lin. There are consequences no matter what you decide. That's why it's so important that you do what you want for you. Both of us only want to see you happy," he assured.

They stood facing each other, gazing longingly into each others' eyes. It had been so long since they had been this close to each other. He wanted to hold her so bad he couldn't stand it any longer. He leaned in and kissed her on the mouth without warning. She kissed him back and then pushed him away for a second.

"Wait. I want to tell Caleb before we get back into this," she nodded.

"Okay. That's fair," he decided. There was no use in causing Caleb more pain than necessary. "You want me to be there when you tell him?"

"No, I can tell him," she said. He went to leave for the door, giving her time to do whatever she needed to do. "Nathan…"

"Yeah?" he turned, and waited for what she had to say. She came over to him and kissed him passionately. He returned the gesture. At last, he had been reunited with his long-lost love. Everything that he had fought for, everything that he had sacrificed was worth it now. He held her close, sure that he would never let her go again.

Just outside the door Caleb caught a glimpse of what was going on through the opening in the door. His heart broke into a thousand pieces. He saw Lindsey and Nathan locked by the lips, very much in love. He was angry, he wanted to storm down the door and bust some things up. He was hurt; he wanted to go in his room and cry. He was confused. He was sure that Lindsey was going to pick him over Nathan. He had been wrong before but he was so sure that they were going to be together. He walked away. He didn't want to talk or cry or shout or break something. He was just going to walk and think.

He walked out the front door, past the piles of scrap metal that was once mutant-killing Sentinels. He walked out of the gate, down the drive and out to the road. He didn't think about anything. He didn't react. There was nothing in him. It was as if a part of him had been completely removed, as if it were no longer there. He tried to think of Lindsey, and it was like being stabbed with a red-hot poker in the chest. It was too painful to think of what was and what was going to be. He just needed to get away for a while—away from Lindsey, away from Nathan, away from the mansion, away from the X-Men.

He wasn't sure how many hours he had been walking. He knew that his cell phone would go off periodically but he would silence it. Finally, he turned it off determined not to talk to anyone. He just needed to be somewhere else, away from everything he knew. He could run away again.

You really want to go back to that life? You think that you could make it on your own? He knew the answers to his questions deep down inside of him. He had become so dependant upon the X-Men. They fed him, clothed him, trained him to control his powers to live a normal life. They had even given him a chance to finish his education and get his diploma. Did he really need them anymore? Did he need Lindsey? If he would have asked himself that question a few days ago, he would have answered yes. Now, he wasn't so sure.

Even with the war going on, was it not possible for him to lead the life of his choice? Maybe this was all supposed to happen so that he would get his much-needed wakeup call.

"I think you're absolutely right, Shockwave," said an all too familiar voice. Caleb spun to find the source of the voice. He was walking down an alley and there was no one else around.

"Right here," said the voice again. He turned a corner and saw Mindflare standing all alone next to some boxes. He was dressed in his usual all-black attire. His eyes glared at Caleb under thick brows. Caleb didn't hesitate to gather some energy to summon a boom.

"There will be no need for that, I assure you. I'm not here to fight," he smiled.

"No, but I'm sure the MCA are right around the corner waiting to take me in," Caleb snapped.

"I'm all alone, I assure you. I'm at your mercy," he held his hands up.

"Yeah right," Caleb let the energy in his hands vibrate in his hands, ready to be unleashed with the smallest exertion.

"We can have a knock-down-drag-out right here if you want to, or we can just talk," Mindflare offered. Caleb was at least a little apprehensive. This guy was bad news, Caleb knew. For all he knew, he was already rearranging his mind so that he would not attack him. Despite his better judgment to swing first and ask questions later, Caleb let the energy go and held his hands up.

"You've got sixty seconds. I'm all ears."

"Very well, I'll make this as brief as I know how. As you no doubt have gathered, I was working with the MCA to have you captured."

"Was?"

"Correct. I am no longer interested in handing you over to them."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Honestly, I haven't given you reason to believe me. Allow me to continue to explain myself. The MCA made a deal with me to hand them over a number of powerful mutants in exchange for diplomatic immunity with them and their laws."

"How'd that work out for you?" Caleb snapped.

"Not well as you can imagine. I made a mistake. You can rest assured that I have corrected the error of my ways. The Brotherhood has freed all of the mutants that we had captured and put into the custody of the MCA. They had no interest in doing anything but locking me and The Brotherhood away."

"Are you surprised?"

"I shouldn't have been. I really thought that I had made a connection that could help turn this war around for us. I've been wrong before and I'm not too prideful to admit when I've made a mistake."

"Are you? What about when you used Cerebro to get us into the mess that we're into now?"

"If I would not have been stopped, our problem would've been solved already. My intentional mission was never accomplished."

"Your intentional mission was going to cost thousands of innocent people their lives!"

"Millions."

"You're sick," Caleb shot back, disgusted.

"Clearly, our only difference is our definition of innocence," Mindflare replied.

"I'm not like you, Mindflare. I wouldn't intentionally take innocent peoples' lives!"

"Ah but you have," he sneered. "You think I don't know that you caused the earthquake?"

"You're right. My actions have cost people their lives. I never wanted that for them. You are intentionally ending the lives of others to further you own twisted ambitions…there is a difference," Caleb defended.

"It's not just the earthquake. What about the MCA investigator you killed before the earthquake? What about the lives that you've take every time you go into battle alongside your righteous X-Men friends? You think that no one was killed when you destroyed Sheol?"

"You can try to throw my dirt up in my face all you want to and it won't matter. I know what I've done and what I haven't. I know why I did the things I did. You and I are not alike. I value my life and the life of others."

"If that's the way you feel…"

"It is."

"How would like to have the opportunity to do something to change the world—to turn the tide in our favor?" Mindflare asked. Caleb didn't try to hide his disgust in response.

"Does it involve killing people?"

"Things of this magnitude always require some sacrifices, Shockwave."

"Human life isn't something that you can just sacrifice!"

"Our enemies would tend to agree—yet they have no problem ending mutant life. Spending their time either trying to come up with some way to cure our disease or to eradicate us from the planet as if we were nothing more than vermin."

"And people like you make them right to hate and fear mutants," Caleb interjected.

"I am a revolutionist," he defended with pride.

"You're a sociopath and a terrorist," Caleb shot back.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. No doubt the X-Men have brainwashed you into this close-mindedness."

"The X-Men have nothing to do with this. In case you forgot, I told you 'no' before they came along."

"So now you follow their every whim without asking yourself if it is what is right for you?" he demanded in disbelief.

"I don't 'follow their every whim!' I'm sure you already know that though, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to find me," Caleb realized that every moment he was there gave Mindflare more of an opportunity to get into his mind.

"I did detect your presence because I've been waiting for an opportunity to talk to you. I assure you your mind is intact, thought I'm sure you'll have your cousin or the Phoenix check it out for you," he smugly replied. The Phoenix: Caleb had heard Jean referred to by that name before, thought he knew no reason or story behind it. He'd have to ask her, until then, he was done speaking to Mindflare.

"Would you like to know how things turned out for your brother?" He struck a nerve. While Caleb had no desire to deal with Mindflare, he did want to get in touch with Garrett again.

You can't make a deal with the devil without getting burned, he reminded himself.

"If Garrett wants to see me, he'll come and see me. I don't need you to arrange a meeting," he snapped viciously.

"Very well. You didn't get a chance to hear about what I have to offer you," he sneered.

"I think I've made it clear enough that I'm not interested."

"That's a shame. Someone as powerful as you with so much potential should not be kept on such a short leash," Mindflare taunted. Caleb didn't respond. It wasn't worth his time. "It's too bad you can't use your powers to benefit the cause."

"What cause?" he rhetorically demanded.

"To have a world where mutants can live peaceably, without persecution and prejudice. To punish mankind for what they've done to us."

"You're so blinded by hate you don't realize that you make yourself worse than them! People are people, whether they are human or mutant or whatever. When you separate us you become the bigot and you make them right for everything they say against us."

"These are the ideals of the X-Men being pushed upon you, Shockwave. Think about it; we are different. It is a difference that goes beyond language, skin color, creed, religion, what have you. We are a different specie than them."

"You mean a better species right?"

"Yes, we are Homo Superior, the next link in mankind's evolutionary chain. We are the future…unless they succeed in killing us all; eventually this world will be inhabited entirely by mutants. They are the ones who refuse to change."

"And you are playing God by deciding who gets to live and die—whose lives are worth sacrificing and whose are worth keeping. Our standards of the value of life are different so we will never agree. I'm not interested in hearing what you have to say, Mindflare. This conversation is over," he turned to walk away, nearly infuriated at Mindflare. It was hard not to lash out at him but he knew it'd be a losing battle and he'd make himself just as bad as him.

"Shockwave! One thing before you go," Mindflare pleaded. His tone had changed; there was genuine concern in his voice—a rare thing for someone as sadistic as Mindflare. As tempted as he was to keep walking something compelled him to stay and listen.

"What?"

"The MCA are going to go to your family searching for you. They are going to use them as bait to get to you," his words made Caleb's heart sink. "Don't fall for it; they will do anything to get their hands on you."

"Why me? What's so important about me?" he demanded.

"Both sides are going to do whatever they can to get you. You have the power to end the war for either side."

"How?"

"That's precisely what I want to talk to you about…"

"Save your breath. Thanks for the tip but I'm not joining up with your 'cause.' I have to warn my family."

"No, the MCA will expect you to go to them. It's just the opportunity they need to get their hands on you. You'll only bring pain on yourself if you try to intervene."

"I can't leave them! I don't know why I'm still talking to you!" Caleb ran from the alley and started back towards the mansion. He'd never make it in time running. He used his powers to make a wave to hover. Propelling himself at speeds he'd never dared, even in battle, he raced towards the mansion as fast as he could go.