Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. Ilehana Xavier belongs to Corrinth. All other characters belong to me.

A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers out there; you really are all stars. Here goes 24, so all together now; 'bleep bleep, bleep bleep, bleep bleep." No I'm not mad, honest. Well, maybe a little...

Scene 24

Xavier allowed Blaze the luxury of a shower and a change of clothes before bringing her in to find out what had happened to bring the police down on her so hard. She arrived at his office door looking physically refreshed; red hair shining, long blue-grey denim skirt brushing her ankles, square-necked, off-the-shoulder short sleeved tan top and black lace choker completing the gypsy-esque look. But emotionally, she appeared haggard, to Xavier's strengthening telepathy a void of dark thoughts and emotions like tar enough to drown in.

It was the guilt in the room that unnerved Xavier the most, though he fought to hide that nervous feeling. Not just from Blaze, guilty for abandoning Mercury now as well as rejecting Gambit's concern, and worrying the Professor to the point of illness. He felt guilt also from the man who, with the best intentions, had called down one of Blaze's worse fears upon her head. Matthew Cooper leant his arm on the windowpane, his forehead on that arm, back to where Blaze had just entered. Only when the door catch clicked closed did he turn, watching Blaze's darting suspicious eyes jump from the Professor to him and back again.

"Professor?"

"Take a seat Laura." Xavier indicated to an empty blue chair, and then turned his head to Matthew. "You too. I think this is a story we had best all hear sitting down."

"What story?" Blaze was confused, "I thought you wanted to see me about the police coming after me? I swear I don't know how they tracked me down, I was sure I'd covered my tracks, but maybe..."

"It wasn't you..." Matthew's voice was hesitant, rough, and truthful. Blaze looked at him sharply, frowning, but she didn't say anything. Clearing his throat Matthew started again, he owed her this much at least for what he'd done. "It was me. I was worried about you, Laura. I have a friend, he's in the CIA, I asked him to check up on you for me and..."

"You did what!" Blaze was instantly on her feet again, yelling, furious with her hands on her slender hips. Eyes aflame, she stared Matthew down until he dropped his gaze and muttered his small justification.

"I'm sorry... I was just trying to find out a little about you, I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I just didn't think you'd have anything to hide..."

"In my experience, Matthew, everybody has something to hide." Xavier counselled sagely. "Even me."

"You could have just asked!" Blaze sat down again, too exhausted to maintain her fighting stance for long. She crossed her legs so her long denim skirt split, revealing knee high brown lace-up boots that must have taken forever to pull on. "You didn't have to go nosing about behind my back, I don't lie about my past to my friends."

"Friends? Blaze you've not had two words for me since I've been here." Matthew's anger shone through now. "I know you've had a rough ride recently, but you've not even managed to be civil to me. What exactly was I supposed to do?"

"I've had my orders." Blaze was the one now to break the eye contact, glancing at Xavier before dropping her beautiful brown orbs as though ashamed. "Its nothing personal."

"Orders?" Matthew demanded, turning sharply on Xavier. "You ordered her to keep away from me? Ordered Gambit to warn me off? Damn it Charles, I'm not one of your students who's life you can control!"

"Gambit warned you off?" Blaze cut in before Xavier could reply. Matthew nodded, curtly, making Blaze risk a furtive smile. "I didn't know about that..."

"Nor I." Xavier treated the statement with a bit more decorum. "My orders were for Blaze alone, she is the only one of the X-Men who knew anything about them. And they were for your protection, Matthew. If only you could see your own importance..."

"You'll have to excuse me if I feel my importance to a bald old man is not as high on my list as that of a beautiful young woman." Matthew's voice was sharp, his remarks deliberately cutting, but Xavier only frowned.

"You're not going to get throught to him, Professor." Blaze spoke softly, well used to stubborn men. "Could you please give us a moment?"

"Of course." Xavier nodded his reply before making himself scarce. Perhaps this wasn't the wisest course of action, but all of Blaze's thoughts were on one thing and one thing only.

Trust me, Professor. Please, just trust me...

For a moment after the door clicked closed again behind Xavier, nothing was said. The silence dragged out between the two as both of them fought to find the right words to begin. With every second that went by, the tension grew like some great vine, unravelling in new and complicated ways between them, making those first few words even more difficult to scrape together. Outside the window a songbird chirruped pleasantly, children ran past in the corridor calling to one another. Matthew sighed, a weary sigh that seemed to echo off the soft furnishings of the office. Standing, he walked back to the window, turned his back on Blaze and waited. How long would she drag this torment out?

"Matthew?" Her hand rested warm on his shoulder, making him turn to face her. There was a light frown on her face, but her eyes were more worried than angry. "Matthew, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." He replied hoarsely, forcing a small smile. "But go ahead."

"What do you think the Professor sees in you?" She didn't take her hand off his shoulder, wouldn't break the eye contact she'd made. How was he supposed to think with her looking at him so intensely like that?

"I don't know. A human who doesn't see mutants as a threat I guess, and a politician who knows a few people who might be useful to him..." Matthew shrugged. "I've not thought about it to be honest, what he wants from me I mean."

"He doesn't want anything from you, Matthew. He wants to help you because you may be exactly what us mutants need. He doesn't see what you are now, but who you might be in a few years or whenever... Matthew, he can see that you would be a fantastic senator, maybe even President. People would vote for you, human and mutant, you could do real good for this country..."

"I don't get it. What's my career got to do with anything? What's it got to do with me and you?" He reached out and took her other hand in his, gently as though he tried to catch a firefly. Matthew was more than relieved when she didn't shy away from his touch. Was there hope for this dream after all?

"You know who I am now. I know how you see me, an English mutant schoolteacher with a sideline in saving the world. One of the good guys. And why wouldn't I be exactly the type of girl an up-and-coming politician be seen with?" Blaze risked a small smile, before pulling away from Matthew and turning to the window. "But you know now what Xavier has been trying to protect you from; I've not always been a good guy. And my past does have a habit of coming back and biting me." She looked back deep into his eyes then, searching for any sign that he understood, but there was only a faint glimmer of comprehension.

"I don't care about that." He swore adamantly. And he didn't either, he'd thought about it and he really didn't care who Blaze used to be. What mattered was who she was now.

"Well you should do. The rest of the world will, Matthew, if we make it or not they would still hold it against you that ever dated a criminal. Your bright future, the one the Professor feels is so close now you can almost smell it, would go up in a cloud of smoke and ash."

"So you're rejecting me on the promise that possibly, in some future somewhere, somebody will see us being together as a bad thing? And because your boss told you to? Maybe I'm being impulsive here, but this isn't about any of them. I have to know, what do you want to do Laura?"

"It's a small sacrifice, Matthew, for the greater good." Blaze wouldn't look at him. "It's what being an X-Man is all about." She left it unsaid that to her it was also what being a mother was all about, sacrificing everything she could to protect her absent child. If the CIA had been on her tail, had they found Jessica? Would they leave her be? She had no way to check...

"Just answer the question." Matthew asked again, folding his arms defensively. "What do you want?"

What did she want? To have her daughter safe and protected, to have mutants accepted for who they were, to feel safe in her own head... Her eyes drifted to the scarred skin on her left arm.

"I want..." Blaze sighed, then stubbornly shook her curls back from her face and set her chin. "I want you to know that you say all the right things, at exactly the right time. But you're better off with someone else, some other Miss Perfect. I can't love you Matthew..."

"...I... Why not? How can you know, just like that? What's wrong with me? Is it because I'm not a mutant?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Blaze stopped him smoothly, eyes sympathetic. "You're a wonderful man, Matthew, it's just..."

"There's someone else, isn't there? Gambit implied as much." Matthew's voice turned bitter again. "Tell me, is it him?"

"No and no." Blaze replied a touch too defensively. "You know I've not been well, Remy's just being defensive of me because of it... And it hasn't helped that I've been a pain in the neck about it either."

"Whatever." Matthew gave up, crushed. "Maybe someday you'll change your mind..."

"I wont." Blaze admitted. "I'm sorry."

"Then I guess there's nothing left for me here. Time I made myself scarce." Matthew decided, looking at Blaze closely. Would she really just let him leave?

"Take care." She kissed his cheek briefly, but pulled away sharply. "Safe journey home."