(Six)

Henry shuffled into his personal quarters, not quite awake. He had spent the bulk of the night in surgery working on the Clansmen. The doctor in him would not allow such wounded men to go untreated, no matter how tired he was. At least here he had the facilities to take care of them properly.

Charles Xavier was not one to flaunt his money, but he wasn't afraid to spend it either. This high tech facility masquerading as a school contained medical equipment that would be the envy of some hospitals. It had an MRI machine, CAT scan, and full x-ray equipment. It also had it's share of offworld medical technology, gifts from the Shi'ar the X-men had befriended on earlier adventures. While the alien technology was kept secret from most of the folks here, some of the brighter students were given medical training if they showed promise.

Beast had wasted no time in calling a couple of those helpful students to assist him in the fully equipped operating theater deep in the lower levels of the Xavier Institute. He had needed them. Bruce was receptive to the idea of being sewed up, but the concept of full surgery under anesthesia had terrified him. It had taken some strong persuasion to get him to submit but it had been ultimately necessary, the damage to his arm had been quite severe. The delay in getting it seen to had no doubt resulted in some nerve damage and loss of use, but Beast had done his very best to keep that to a minimum.

Valentin's break hadn't been much better, really. While he hadn't been cut like Bruce had been, the fractures were substantial. Coupled with the other broken bones he had – two ribs and a cracked collarbone – the First General was in need for some serious recoup time. Valentin had been less timid about being put under the gas and Henry was grateful, he was exhausted from the travel and wasn't in the mood for yet another brawl.

Now, at this early morning hour, Beast was ready to crash. He entered his private apartment and rubbed his eyes. He was given the special privilege of having his rooms down in the lower level, next to the Med Lab. It gave him instant access in case of emergency, but it had mostly come about because he was down here the majority of the time anyway. Lord knew he earned it, working his brilliant mind long hours and for so many advantages to the team.

He had more space than many housed here, a full four rooms all to himself. He didn't own much in spite of all that space but it kept his massive library in good hands. He had some custom exercise equipment as well, his oversized body wasn't kind to most of the regular equipment in the gym. He had a nice sized kitchen too. He didn't boast about it, but he had a secret passion for cooking and had a nice assortment of cooking gear and exotic spices. At the moment however it wasn't the kitchen that called him, but his bed.

Henry paused when he heard a soft snore coming from his large couch, an odd thing considering that he lived alone here. With all the time he spent working, the one area of his life that he was a little short on was his love life. He had no idea who his little visitor might be. He peeked over the back and smiled when he saw Bobby there, twisted and sleeping, wrapped up in a large fleece blanket Henry had there.

Iceman may have been one of the younger members of the X-men, but he was still one of the first to be used in an official squad along with Beast, Cyclops and Jean. Since Bobby was so young, a mere fourteen years of age at his arrival, Henry just naturally took it upon himself to look after the boy and keep him from harm. It was more than Bobby's youth, the boy hadn't had the benefit of loving parents as Henry had. Xavier had shown up on Bobby's doorstep when he'd first been detected and his parents had wasted no time in handing him over to the Professor, even going so far as to give him full custody. Bobby's powers had been out of control and he frightened almost everyone, freezing things around him by accident and hurting people without meaning to. Bobby had been so small and fragile here, hiding all that abandonment behind his playful antics and silly pranks. Henry had been quick so see through the disguise and went well out of his way to make him feel at home. They had grown quite close over the ten years that followed, as good as blood brothers, and it made a sort of sense that Bobby would be here, Henry hadn't made it to the dinner last night and Bobby hadn't had a chance to welcome him back.

Beast left him as he was and went into the kitchen, trying to be quiet about gathering a makeshift breakfast. He wasn't hopeful when he opened the refrigerator, it had been weeks since he'd been gone and he had no idea what moldy disaster awaited. He was pleasantly surprised to find the fridge not only spotlessly clean but resupplied with most of his favorites. He closed his eyes, trying not to let the rise of emotion that brought out in him swamp his poor tired mind. He was at heart a hopeless romantic and these small reminders of being loved, platonic though they may be, couldn't help but make him melt a little.

Henry poured himself a glass of orange juice and pawed through a large pile of mail that sat on his kitchen table. He saw that they were mostly notes from students wondering where he had gone. In his absence, some of those bolder students had even continued experiments he'd had them assist him with. Even with each passing day, this place wouldn't let him go quickly.

Bobby stirred at Henry's noise and looked at him with a rumpled, sleepy smile. "Hey."

"Good morning, Robert," Henry replied, unable to stop his own smile in return. "You always did like that couch."

"Jean was going to take it but I told her she would have to fight me for it," Bobby teased. He hadn't given voice to the missing piece of that sentence – when we thought you weren't coming back.

Henry nodded and laughed softly, pawing through more mail. He was tired deep into his bones and still trying to fight a strong urge to cry. He had missed this place badly. He hadn't realized just how much until he was back here, looking on all of his old familiar things and seeing all the people he loved so deeply. It was startling just how close he had come to losing all of this. He would have withered away on Cerise if they had forced him to remain with the Clan, he knew that now.

"Kurt's here. He just had to go into the city for a couple of days for one of his church things," Bobby said next. He could see Beast was struggling but loved his friend enough to give him the dignity of not commenting on it. "I called him so he knows you're home."

"How is he doing?" Beast asked casually. It was really quite common for Nightcrawler to leave and do charity work, especially assisting projects that bolstered human and mutant relations.

"Good," Bobby answered, sitting up and smoothing out his hair. "He's doing one of those charity drives for the new hospital. He collected your mail so it wouldn't clog up your box. Your stuff is always getting into his as it is."

"That was very thoughtful," Beast replied, nodding to himself. The senior staff had personal mail boxes in the main office where students could respond and internal memos were passed out. Henry's letter box was right next to Kurt's and on more than one occasion, being the more popular instructor, Henry's mail kept getting misplaced in Kurt's. It wasn't that that made Henry smile again, it was another unspoken message – He never gave up on you.

"He'll be back tomorrow." Bobby rose and stretched, cracking his back. "How was surgery?"

"Everything went fine, but I am tired."

"Then I'll let you sleep."

"Thanks," Henry replied, surreptitiously peeking into his large bedroom to see if Bobby had taken it upon himself to freeze his bed into a block of ice just for fun. Bobby had been good, all was as Henry had left it.

Beast walked Bobby to the door, his eyes heavy with sleep. He grunted happily when instead of leaving directly, Iceman turned and without a word gave him a nice big hug. They were all supposed to be big strong men here, but in many ways, Bobby was still that fourteen year old boy that had been left here all those years ago. He had missed his furry surrogate older brother. Beast often regretted that in this male dominated society that it was an unspoken rule that men should be ashamed to express themselves so freely. It was times like these that there was no better feeling than to have a good friend firmly in his embrace with nothing more meant there than a pure and divine friendship. Henry let the embrace linger, being sure to return it with equal vigor just so Bobby would know he'd been missed.

Henry knew his intentions had been received, he felt a slight chill as Bobby's fingers involuntarily frosted on their own, something used to happen when Bobby was younger and less in control. It was a sign of emotion, that Bobby had been deeply upset when Henry had been taken. His prayers had been answered, Beast was once again home to be hugged, but the whole thing had been a little traumatic for the young man. Bobby would never have given such an open display of affection in front of the others, but here with no one to see, he couldn't have helped himself.

"I'll come back later," Bobby said, awkwardly withdrawing and composing himself. He moved his hands low, hoping Beast hadn't noticed the slight loss of control.

"I'll be around. We'll play chess."

"I'm going to win this time," Bobby challenged playfully, raising a finger as his face broke back into his familiar wide smile. He and Henry played often, but he had never won. "I've been practicing."

"I'm looking forward to it." Henry laughed, nodding, and closed the door behind his friend. He stepped back, feeling the weight of everything come down on him hard. He had to get to bed.

He shuffled off to his bedroom and the massive bed there. He didn't have many indulgences, but his deep, oversized four poster bed was his one and only vice. Well, that and one more - he sat on one end, undressing, but paused to smile. There was a large carton there waiting for him, an industrial sized box of Twinkies, a gift from his just departed friend. There was a note attached, "I thought you could use some of these. Logan said you were a bit thin."

Beast sighed and rubbed at his eyes again, once more feeling that rising tide of emotion. He'd been able to push everything back during his adventure and then while he worked, but now he was home. He'd been so afraid that he'd never be here again. He was exhausted.

Henry gave in and rolled back onto his bed, not bothering to undress. He simply turned and pulled the comforter over himself, dislodging a couple of teddy bears that had been lying up against his pillows. That much of what Gambit had discovered was in fact true, Henry did possess these two bears, but not out of childish weakness. They had been given to him by two mutant children he had saved from terrible violence. A band of anti-mutant protestors had broken into a shelter that housed mutants and attacked them there, leaving these two children orphans. The two girls had been cosmetic mutants, ugly as sin, and no other doctor would treat them even after they had been rescued. Henry had saved their lives and these bears were a reminder to him of just how fragile life really was.

Not that he needed the reminder right now, that was. He took a deep breath and was soon gone, fast asleep and home at last.