Disclaimer: I don't own, nor do I ever have hope of owning the rights to the X-Men.

V.V.V.V.V.V

While Professor Xavier was explaining his hypothesis on the workings of the link between Etienne and Brooke, the two in question were down in the Med Bay with Dr. McCoy. Kurt had already dropped off the mattress Etienne had asked him to get earlier, and had disappeared back upstairs.

Etienne was sitting on one of the beds, holding Brooke in a sitting position so that McCoy could examine her, his head resting in the crook of her neck.

The doctor was giving her a quick once-over, checking her pupil response and pulse before changing the bandages on her leg. He saw Etienne shiver. "How are you doing?"

Etienne looked up for the first time since he had sat down. "Been better."

McCoy nodded and moved to examine the bite mark on Brooke's neck. "When did this happen?" He didn't even see Etienne move but found his arm suddenly held.

"I wouldn't touch dat, Henri."

Hank looked up in surprise to see Etienne staring at him intently. He cleared his throat. "Is it only that area?"

Etienne nodded slowly.

Hank considered the two before him. "I hate to put it this way, but in the animal world, mates will often bite each other as part of the mating ritual. It seems like subconsciously, you consider that to be a sign of possession."

Etienne groaned and put his head back down. "What happening t' me?"

McCoy studied his friend. "We want to understand, but can't if you don't tell us. If I may ask, why did you have Kurt bring a mattress down? There are plenty of beds available down here."

He looked up, pain evident on his face. "Dose rooms strong enough t' keep anyone safe in dem in case o' attack, non? What better place fo' a jail cell?"

Hank's eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"When I told de Professor I was hanging on by tooth an' nail, I wasn't kidding. Y' need t' hurry dis up."

"I'm done, what do you need me to do?"

Etienne shifted Brooke in his arms and handed her to McCoy. "Take her." He walked into the room and pushed what equipment he could out into the hallway, moving the mattress to the center of the room. "Bring her here and put her down." McCoy did as he asked and stepped back. Etienne looked at him. "When y' come in here, make sure I'm awake. I don't want t' attack y' on accident." When Hank nodded in understanding he closed his eyes. "Watch." In the space of two heartbeats, a large brown dragon was in his place. He curled himself carefully around Brooke who was already asleep and snagged the cover with a claw, pulling it over her. He then laid his head down and closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. Shaking his head, McCoy turned the lights off and closed the door.

V.V.V.V.V.V.V

After dinner that night, Gambit went to go visit Hank in the Medical Lab carrying leftovers. "How are dey?"

"Come see for yourself." He led the way down the hallway to one of the largest rooms where the door was still closed.

Remy looked in the window to see Brooke asleep on a mattress watched over by his cousin who was leaning against a wall. He looked up and seeing them in the window, waved.

"You can go in if you want, just no sudden moves. He's still twitchy, just returned to being humanoid in the last 10 minutes or so. It's quite fascinating really."

Remy nodded absently and opened the door. His cousin stood and came over.

"Brought y' some dinner an' some news."

"T'anks. I'm starving." Etienne sat on the edge of the mattress. "Y' can sit down, I don't bite." He looked pained. "Well, at least I won't bite y'."

Gambit sat next to him on the mattress, their backs to the still sleeping Brooke.

"So, everybody upstairs hate me yet?"

Remy shook his head. "Dey don't hate y' and y' know it. Don't understand what's goin on, sure, but dey don't hate you."

"Den what's de news?"

"De Professor figured out a few t'ings bout y' link y' should know." He continued, explaining the Professor's hypothesis.

Brooke was in a state between awake and asleep, halfway listening to the conversation. She was thinking about the incident earlier and what Dr. McCoy had told Etienne. There was something she was missing. Why did Etienne overreact possessively to everything, yet she wasn't bothered in the least? Like McCoy had said, the males of most species were often more protective of the females, but humans had evolved past that point. Human relationships depended on both partners treating each other as equals. What was different about the two of them beyond the obvious? It hit her like bolt of lightening. She wanted to laugh; it was almost too easy of an answer.

Remy and Etienne turned around when they heard Brooke move. She slowly stood up and stumbled over to land on her hands and knees between the two of them. When Remy put out a hand to help her, Etienne growled.

"Leave Gambit." Brooke looked up at him and he sucked in his breath. The pupils of her eyes were slitted and he swore she had fangs. He glanced at Etienne to find him looking down, his hands clenched into fists, panting hard. "Get out!" He sprang for the door, turning around to close it only to freeze.

As soon as Gambit moved, Brooke grabbed Etienne, pulling him closer to her. He tried to struggle, knowing he was too close to changing and not wanting to hurt her, but she wouldn't let him go. With her free hand, she pushed his head to the side, baring his neck. Before he could jerk away, she sank her teeth into the muscle of his shoulder, drawing blood as she did so. He moaned, feeling something twist and pop into place that he hadn't known was damaged with a sense of relief.

Gambit was going to call for help when he saw Brooke let go. She looked up and met his eyes, licking blood from her lips. They both looked at Etienne, who had fallen on his back and hadn't moved. He opened his eyes but didn't move. "Mon Dieu. What was dat?"

Brooke stood. "Figure it out." She walked past Gambit and McCoy who by now had come to stand next to the Cajun. They both stared at her in shock and surprise as she left the Med Bay.

"What happened?"

Etienne sat up and put a hand to his neck, pulling it away to look at the blood on his palm. "She bit me."

McCoy chuckled. "It seems she just marked you."

Etienne groaned and plopped back down on the mattress. "Jus' kill me now."

V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V

Brooke walked into the kitchen to find Rahne, Amara and Kitty just finishing cleaning up after dinner. "Hey guys. Were there any leftovers?" They had become silent as soon as she walked into the kitchen, so it was obvious they had been talking about either her or Etienne.

"Gambit took the last of dinner down to Etienne a moment ago." Kitty put the dishtowel down on the counter and turned around to face Brooke. " How are you feeling?"

Brooke chuckled, thinking of what she had just done downstairs. "I'm doing better." She opened the refrigerator and dug through it, taking out the supplies for a sandwich. "So what's going on that I missed?"

"Like, Rahne and Sam have a date on Saturday." The girls giggled. "Bobby turned his hair green trying to get out the last of the dye this morning. He had to go to school with it like that today."

"Your kidding? The first day of school and his hair was green?" Brooke finished making her sandwich and sat down. "That reminds me, I still need to pick up some supplies before I start on Monday." She tapped her finger on the table, thinking. "You guys free Saturday morning? I need to do some clothes shopping too."

Kitty clapped her hands, this was an excellent opportunity to help Brooke. "That would be great! We can make it a girls outing because Jean just mentioned at dinner that she needs to go also." She turned to look at Amara and Rahne. "Like, you guys going?"

They both nodded. "We'll go find Jubilee and invite her along."

Brooke nodded. "Okay. Kitty, why don't you invite Jean and Rogue then? We'll leave after we get done with the morning Danger Room session."