Erik pulled into the garage at the Xavier Mansion, it had been a long tiring drive from coast to coast, which had taken him an additional three days. He wanted nothing more than to climb into his bed. As he locked up the vehicle, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching the garage and groaned… he really didn't feel like talking to anyone right now. He hoped it was someone Alex or Colossus who didn't have much interest in him, and that he could dismiss easily.

"Well well look what the cat dragged in(!)" Raven's voice echoed through the large cavernous garage as she marched through the door and straight towards him.

"Good evening my dear" Erik said congenially. "Do you mind if we save this conversation for the morning? I'm not really in a conversational mood-"

"Asshole!" Raven cut Erik off with a slap around his face that made him see stars and almost knocked him off his feet.

"What hell was that for?!"

"Where the fuck have you been?! That poor little boy has been worried sick! We all thought you were lying in a ditch dead or dying somewhere. Charles has been having kittens! None of us have any way to contact you"

"I told Pietro I'd be gone for a few days"

"You told him you'd be gone for THREE days! Erik you've been gone a week! We didn't know what happened to you! You just disappeared! What, did you go to some planet without phones?! You didn't think to call?!"

"I'm sorry…I'm just not used to people worrying about my whereabouts…I didn't think I'd be missed…" He couldn't understand why his friends had gotten so upset. It wasn't like he had been of much use moping around the mansion for the last few months.

Raven rolled her eyes skyward in exasperation. Then tensed her fingers for a moment looking like she might strangle him, but instead launched herself at him, wrapping him in a hug. She held him tightly for a moment.

"I'm glad you're ok." She said sincerely. Then seemed to remember her anger and released him, punching him hard in the shoulder.

"Ow! Raven what is WRONG with you-"

"You need to go explain yourself to Pietro" She said folding her arms.

"Fine. Where is he?"

"Ask Charles"

Erik sighed and called out to the telepath.

"Erik you're ok! We were all so worried"

"Why? I've been looking after myself for a long time."

"What do you mean WHY? You've been ill and something horrible just happened to you. Then you just decide to take off without saying a word...? Erik where did you go?"

Erik did his best to concentrate on sending Charles mental imagery of his journey to the Furys' and their discussions. He didn't bother trying to hide anything from Charles, he knew all about Erik's past now anyway.

"Could you do me a favour and share that with Raven so I don't need to explain twice?"

After a moment he felt the telepath's agreement.

"One last thing, where's Pietro?"

"With Azazel in your cottage"

Erik entered the cottage to find Azazel in the living room with Pietro. The red mutant was in the middle of teaching Pietro the basics of sword fighting. He had swapped his lethal metal blades to wooden practice ones.

"Now..most important thing to remember when you fight, is always watch your opponent's eyes" Azazel instructed "The eyes will always betray his next move."

"Good advice…why didn't you ever offer me lessons?"

Azazel looked up and smiled at him.

"Man who can bend sword doesn't need to know how to use one." He chuckled before adding: "Welcome back boss!" Azazel walked over to Erik and embraced him warmly. Again Erik was somewhat caught off guard, but a hug and a pat on the back, was a nicer welcome home than a slap so he didn't complain.

As Azazel released him Erik turned to greet Pietro properly, but before he could actually move Pietro had limp-dashed across the room and collided with Erik. Flinging his arms around Erik's torso, hugging him fiercely.

Erik gave the boy a squeeze back and chuckled. "Looks like I've been missed."

As Erik finished the quip, Pietro suddenly broke their embrace and shoved his father away. When their eyes met, there was an unexpected fury in his son's eyes that surprised Erik.

Without saying anything further, Pietro grabbed his crutches and limped towards the front door slamming it on the way out. Leaving Erik standing in the living room looking confused.

"Listen boss..." Azazel said carefully "I have piece of advice….when man disappears for several days without warning, he is wise to expect trouble from the womenfolk and children" and with that the red mutant disappeared with a puff of smoke.

For perhaps the first and only time in their lives, Erik found it easy to catch up with Pietro. The boy was limping along a path that led deeper into the mansion's grounds. Erik fell in step beside his son.

"And where are you off to in a such a great hurry young man?"

"What do you care?" Pietro snapped, shooting his father a scowl.

"WATCH your tone" Erik said sternly "I told you I would be going away for a few days-"

Pietro suddenly pivoted and launched at him beating his fists against Erik's torso

"You said you'd only be gone for THREE days! You lied! You were gone for a week! " Pietro shouted, the fury back in his eyes "You're a liar! You lie about everything! "

Erik caught his son's fists easily and held them in place "Pietro calm down…"

"NO! Where have you been? Everyone's been-"

"-Everyone's been WORRIED. Yes, I know-Raven and Charles have already shared their hysterics with me(!) I've been moving around on my own far longer than any of you, I know how to take care of myself...But if this is to be the welcome I get whenever I need to leave to take care of some business, perhaps I won't hurry back next time...if at all!"

As soon as Erik had snarled the words out he realised it was a grave mistake. Pietro's eyes filled with tears and he jerked away from Erik covering his face with his sleeves. The boy limped a few more steps away before half sitting half collapsing on the grass verge next to the path, his back to his father. Erik had not really meant the words, he was merely tired and irritable from the long drive and all the high strung -and he felt ILLOGICAL- emotions from his friends had exasperated him and inflamed his temper.

Pietro sat with his head on his knees and sobbed. "I knew it! I knew you never wanted to come back…! That's why you didn't tell me you were my father in the first place! That's why you lied me..! You hate me don't you?!"

"Pietro… " Erik's voice was no longer angry but almost a plea "Pietro…of course I don't hate you" Erik fell to his knees next to Pietro and surrounded the boy with his arms. Pietro didn't fight him, but his sobs grew worse, all the tension he'd been carrying with him through the weeks and months came to the surface, a torrent of emotion that over flowed.

"What's wrong with me? Why didn't you want me?"

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong with you! " Erik cupped Pietro's face his hand and made the boy look at him "You mustn't ever think there is understand?" Erik wiped away some of the tears marring Pietro's cheeks "Listen, I didn't tell you because I didn't want my troubles-my enemies to become yours…" Erik sighed deeply "…but that has happened anyway and I am so sorry for it…the truth is … I was afraid…I failed as a father to Anya…I let her get hurt, when I should have been there to protect her…When I SWORE to be there to protect her…." Erik squeezed his eyes shut to try and stop his own tears from falling…..I didn't trust myself to be a father again….at first I was terrified you might be hurt or killed because of your connection to me….and I later I was terrified you'd be angry at me…but of course that's happened anyway..." Erik laughed mirthlessly at the irony. He looked down at his son, but Pietro wouldn't meet his eyes. Erik pressed on "The more I lied… the easier it was to lie you….and myself…convince myself I was being selfless…doing the right thing…I was deluded…what I did was very selfish Pietro…and I'm very sorry…please forgive me."

Pietro looked up at him and sniffed "You really mean all that?"

"Every word."

"...and you're not gonna leave anytime soon?"

"If I do it won't be for long and unless I take you with me."

"You promise?"

"Yes."

"You really promise."

"Of course"

"You really REALLY promise?"

"Pietro I said yes-"

"Ok that's three times you promised. Apology accepted." Pietro said with small grin.

Erik chuckled, glad to see some of his son's old spirit back.

"With conditions..." Pietro added.

"Oh conditions eh?" Erik said with mock severity , unable to keep the mirth from his eyes.

"No more secrets, you have to tell me everything "

"Hmmmm…that's hard for me to agree to…" Erik said somewhat apologetically "Not all the secrets I carry are mine. It's not honourable to betray someone else's trust. " He cocked his head to the side thoughtfully for a moment "How about no more lies instead? I will promise to be honest with you where I can, and tell you plainly when I cannot…and I promise not to mislead you by omission…that is by leaving out a crucial part of the truth."

Pietro thought for a moment then offered his hand for his father to shake.

"Deal. Pleasure doing business with you Mr Eisenhardt"

Erik chuckled again "Same to you Mr Maximoff Eisenhardt Lensherr"

Pietro beamed at the bestowal of his new full name. "That's gonna take forever to write" Pietro complained but he was still smiling.

"So then…shall we head back" Erik asked and Pietro nodded in agreement. Erik gathered Pietro's crutches and helped his son to his feet.

As they walked back to the cottage at a slower pace, Pietro piped up again.

"I was thinking about what to call you…before you know…I got mad at you…I mean I can't keep calling you Erik can I?"

Erik shrugged "You can if you wish… I'm not overly attached to labels… whatever feels comfortable for you..."

"Well see…I used to call Diego Papa sometimes…so it kinda feels weird calling you that ….And Sarah Hudson used to make me call Jon Dad…that kinda ruined it for me"

"I understand..."

"But I was thinking how about 'Pop'?

"Pop?….It's very um AMERICAN…."

"Yeah I know right? It's something totally new! Well not new NEW…but new to us! They use it on TV alot… " He looked up at Erik who was trying very hard to hide a wince "You…you don't like it do you…? That's ok I can think of something else…"

Erik hated it. Precisely for all the reasons that Pietro loved it. It made him think of those brain-dead television shows that people were so damn addicted to. However…When Pietro talked about the word 'Pop' he had the same gleam in his eyes that was present when he'd picked up that damn silver coat. He could put up with hating it, because he loved his son.

"On the contrary, I think it fits." Erik said smoothly, then remembered their earlier agreement about lies "That is it will grow on me…it is already."

"Great! …. Pop." Pietro beamed at him again and that made the whole thing worth it.

"So since you're not allowed to lie anymore, where did you go for a whole week anyway?"

Erik stopped and fished in his jacket pocket for the photographs of Mayra and Wanda, then handed them to Pietro.

"I know you said you wanted to stop looking, and perhaps I should have listened to you but…I'm not good at walking away from something once I've locked horns with it…I had to find them…see for myself that Wanda was still alright. Memories of Anya lying in the snow…that's been going round and round in my head since the fire at the sawmill…I needed to know your sister was really alright..."

"When you found her, she was ok right…she looks really happy here…Mayra does too…"

"Yes she is happy, they both are I believe. They both miss you…Wanda said you were smart and brave and funny…." Pietro smiled " Mayra loves you like her own son. She also said she thought your gifts were from God and the Angels, not anything dark or evil..so mustn't ever think of your abilities as anything negative..." Erik stated "But Mayra started to doubt me when I left that day. She thought I was lying about the fact that you were alive... " Erik explained, then recounted his trip to the Furys to Pietro in full. They sat on the porch of the cottage talking until dawn began to break.

"So you're not in trouble with the police anymore…" Pietro asked when Erik had given him a full account of his visit to California.

"As long as I stick to Fury's deal, I can move through the territories of the United States and her allies without being hunted by the authorities….of course that doesn't stop other forces hunting me…so can the other loyal members of my Brotherhood..."

"Will the missions be dangerous?"

"I don't know, but I expect if they weren't Fury wouldn't have bothered recruiting me"

"Can I come with you"

"Sure, when you're eighteen."

"Can you take Raven and Azazel with you?"

"I'm not sure if they would want to come… but that's not a bad idea… I can ask."

"Listen Pietro, I've said yes to Fury but the decision about what we tell Wanda about you should really be as much yours as any of ours…if you really wish I can drive back with you and we can talk to him together."

Pietro frowned in thought and then a look of deep determination appeared on his face.

"No. I..I don't want to tell Wanda anything until I'm strong enough to protect her. Like Mama asked me to do. She would have wanted Wanda to be safe, and Mayra.

"I want to be stronger... as strong as you were when you beat Rossivich…do you think that's possible?…will you help me train?"

"I don't even know if it's possible for me to be that strong again" Erik smiled "But I certainly can try"

"Thanks Pop" Pietro said wrapping his arms around Erik, who returned the hug as the pair watched the sunrise together. A new dawn was breaking over the Xavier Mansion.