A/N: Woo whoo! A new vic.. er… reader!! Thank you FelineFire82 and BerserkerRageX-Girl for your reviews! ^___^
~*~*~
Luke led the way down the hallway to a flight of stairs and then into the kitchen where they found Xavier sitting at the table with Scott, Lance and a lady with very white hair.
Nikki stared at the white haired woman with unabashed amazement. "Wow." he said. "That must be hard to keep clean."
Ororo chuckled, "Yes it is," She smiled kindly, "You must be Dominik."
"Yup." He said, beaming.
Scott looked grinned at the boy, then spoke to Luke.
"So, did you guys like your rooms?"
Luke nodded, 'Yes, thank you. They're three times as big as our last room.'
"Great. And I'm guessing you want something to eat?"
Lance hit him playfully.
"Scott, don't tease them." He scolded. "We made toasted sandwiches, you guys want one?"
'Oh yea! Starving,' Luke's eyes grew wide at the site of *Real* food, 'Look Nikki, this stuff's real.'
Nikki looked unsure. "I dunno." It had been the policy of a previous institute to drug food and give it to the patients in order to sedate them for moving them to the 'treatment' rooms, and Nikki was wary of anything that didn't come served in a cafeteria...
Luke sniffed the air, his nose having become more sensitive due to his current state, 'Smells safe to me.'
"Are you inquiring that my cooking isn't safe?" Ororo asked raising an eyebrow.
"It's fine, look..." Lance took one and bit into it, getting elbowed by Scott. "Oi, gut bag, those are for these guys."
Ororo stood up and shook her head at the boys then picked up the plate of sandwiches and offered one to both Luke and Nikki.
"I will assure you that they are safe." She smiled.
"I must agree." Xavier spoke up for the first time having just finished his sandwich.
Nikki stepped back a bit, and looked back and forth from the plate tot eh woman who held it, feeling he could trust her, but not wanting to at the same time.
Luke's stomach rumbled loudly and finally he gave into temptation and took a sandwich quickly scarfing it down.
'Oh man, that was the best sandwich I've had in forever!' He sighed licking his chops.
Nikki looked at Luke with surprise, then looked back at the sandwiches. His empty stomach, the woman's kind face and everyone, especially Luke, apparently eating the food with no ill effects finally won out over his hesitance. He sneaked a sandwich and sniffed it carefully, then licked it, before eating it as fast as he could.
"What happened to your head?" Ororo asked noticing the bump for the first time.
Luke suddenly realizing that he was still soaking wet shook himself dry, the spray of water hitting Scott full on.
Scott yelped and shot out of the chair, his lover in hysterics.
"Shut up." Scott said, pseudo-irritable. "Or you're not getting ANY. EVER!"
Lance shut up quickly, although you could see he was trying not to laugh.
Nikki lifted his hand to his head, but didn't touch it.
"Mummy got mad cause I got soaked again." He said, the past colliding with the present in his head.
Ororo raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Xavier who peeked into Nikki's mind catching a glimpse of what Nikki was seeing.
'He's experiencing flashbacks,' He sent to Ororo telepathically, 'Just play along.'
Nikki looked over at Luke, bewildered. "Luke?" He asked, suddenly very confused. "Where'd mum go?"
Lance and Scott, who had stopped horsing around to watch Nikki's odd behavior quietly left.
'She... left Nikki.' Luke was at a loss of words for once.
Ororo returned with the ice in a plastic bag wrapped in a small dishtowel, "Here, Dominik." She said softly handing Nikki the ice.
Nikki took the ice from Ororo, giving her a suspicious look, and held the ice gently to his head. He reached out for Luke in an unconscious need for reassurance with his other hand. "Why'd she leave?" He asked
Luke approached him rubbing his hand with his head before he sat down in front of him.
'I don't know.' He told him truthfully.
Ororo quietly sat down next Xavier giving him a worried look.
"Is she coming back?" He asked, then turned to Ororo, avoiding looking at Xavier, who intimidated him a little, "It's cold," He said, indicating the ice, "Can I stop now?"
Ororo nodded and walked over to him taking the ice.
"You look a little tired," She started looking between both Nikki and Luke, who also looked tired, "Both of you. Why don't you both go and get some sleep?"
Nikki nodded, yawning as she mentioned sleep, "Lights out soon. C'mon on Luke." He stood up and started to leave.
Luke started after him looking one last time over his shoulder at Ororo and Xavier gratefully, 'Thanks.' He sent to them then caught up with Nikki who was a head of him.
Nikki looked down at Luke and grinned. "Luke...." he said conspiratorially... "We can leave before lights out. We can hide in the air vents and escape."
'Why do we need to leave?' Luke asked quizzically, he was actually starting to feel safe now that he was away from the asylum, away from Alex...
Nikki looked puzzled then a light dawned. "Oh, we're not back there are we?" He seemed to be living in the here and now for a bit. "We got away?" He said in astonishment. He bent and grabbed Luke, hugging im hard. "I could kiss you." He said happily.
Luke grunted, 'Can't... breath...' He sent jokingly.
Nikki released him immediately, and ran off into the bedroom. "We got really nice beds." He called back.
Luke walked in after him, 'Yea, we do. So, do you like this place so far?' He asked jumping onto the bed and curled up into a ball.
Nikki crawled over to him and lay down, head pillowed on Luke's warm side. "I like it better than the other place." He said sleepily, curling up into Luke.
'Me too...' Luke sighed falling asleep.
~*~*~
A/N: Please Review!!
