A/N - Here we go! I won't leave too many notes, just a heartfelt thanks to Practically An Avenger and XoverA for the reviews. Welcome back X! Enjoy!

Chapter 113 - Gut Punch

"Evie's taking the girls to the movies, so I'm your food delivery service today," Anton said as he let himself into Annie's house. His squad car was parked outside, and he was run-down from a long shift and an even longer argument with one of the new officers who didn't see why Anton cared about the uptick in anti-mutant hate crimes lately.

He still hadn't told anyone on the force he was a mutant, though a few who had been on calls with him where he'd had to pass through detectors knew. So far, no one had said anything, though.

"You look beat, Anton; you really don't have to look after me like this," Annie said as she let him in, frowning at him. "I'm alright. It's just a breakup."

"Annie, you haven't cooked a meal for yourself since it happened. If that ain't a neon red sign that you're more depressed than I've ever seen you, I don't know what is."

Annie gave him a tired almost-smile. "I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with him," she said.

"Yeah, you told me," Anton said, setting down the Tupperware Evie had given him before she'd headed out with the girls. "Still not clear why you broke it off it that's the case."

Annie swallowed, fighting back tears again. She wished she could tell him the reason. She couldn't get past this breakup because she was still so confused. At least if she had a reason, she could get closure, but this?

Well, there was a reason she could barely even touch her oven.

Anton watched her for a second before he sighed and sat down next to her, putting his arm around her shoulder to pull her into a hug, letting her rest her head under his chin. "Can't pretend to know what's going on in your head, but ain't gonna let my family suffer, you know that, right?"

"I appreciate it," Annie said, closing her eyes. "I wish I knew how to fix this."

Anton nodded. "Meantime… your sister sent me with that golden mushroom chicken y'all can't get enough of."

"Mom's recipe," Annie said, smiling lightly. "She must be worried too."

"We all are. Half worried you're gonna make a bad decision or nine if we let you outta our sights, too."

Annie chuckled. "Oh, yeah, I'm definitely the rebel in our family."

"Surprisingly, you kind of are," he teased. "Didn't see anybody else in the family dragging the original X-Man out of retirement."

"It's a skill," Annie said, smiling into the hug.

"So." Anton straightened up. "You gonna be okay if I just turn on a show? Not much for conversation right now."

"Me neither."

Anton got to his feet and pushed his hand through her hair backward. "Just so it's clear, love ya, sis."

"Oh, go turn on Sound of Music," she teased.

"Right, right, just for that, we're watching Snow White."

"You hate me, don't you."

"Sure do, Annie."

The stay in Genosha didn't last nearly as long as James or Billy would have liked, and the truth of it was that the longer James was there, the more he started thinking … maybe a gap year would be a good idea after the way things had gone for him at MIT. He'd been threatening it to his father for a while, but … it actually started to sound good. What had him a little confused though, was that he was halfway thinking of staying in Genosha - not finding a wooded cabin somewhere. But he didn't want to focus on that too much. Spending most of his time half naked by the pool or on the beach really wasn't awful. Billy liked it, not just for himself but to walk out and find James like that had yet to elicit anything short of a delighted grin.

Then again, maybe the trouble wasn't going to school. Maybe it was where that school was. Genosha didn't have the level of study in physics or engineering that James wanted, but … there were other options overseas. Some of them could even offer competitive options… including access to CERN.

He was sitting on a balcony, overlooking the city, but not really focused on anything there - until someone caught his eye with a burst of colorful light and James shifted his focus to the little family halfway down the street with three little kids … all of whom seemed to share similar, yet different, mutations. Just like that, his mind started to wander to the point of distraction.

He'd spent a lot of time trying to keep his focus away from genetics because of what Hank had said when he was a kid, but once he'd gotten an interest in it, it was hard to put down, and though he hadn't made a big thing about it, James was up to date on not only Hank's research, but on genetic research on the x-gene from around the globe. He'd shifted away from it because of Hank's insistence, but it still fascinated him - though from a different angle than when he was a kid trying to get rid of it.

Now, he wanted to know why some families seemed to share a common thread in their mutations and others … he wondered if those mutations were more alike than they seemed to be. Nate and Rachel both had their mother's gifts from the x-gene, and neither of them seemed to have anything remotely like their father or uncle. So did that make telepaths and telekinetics more likely than concussive blasts? How did that work out with Billy's family, too? The twins didn't seem to have the same powerset, but was that because they were created out of chaos magic?

And that didn't even cover how sometimes, occasionally, a pair of mutants would end up with a human child. Science had declared the x-gene recessive decades ago … was that changing? And if so- how?

Most of the research was still geared toward stopping it - and all of that had been failed science. As if the genes themselves were mutating to prevent being eradicated on their own. But that wasn't possible. Mutating too fast for anyone to predict or control though …

For the first time in years, out of the blue, James found himself wondering if he should look into genetics. It wouldn't do anything for his position at Stark, but there were other, more interesting callings than weapons, energy, or even space travel.

He could talk to admissions at Harvard - they were the best in that field anyhow - but maybe he was tying his own hands by sticking to New England. Stanford was good … in California. But that felt like it was too far from Billy when he was in Genosha. Oxford, though … that was an amazing university with stellar ratings for genetics. It was one that the professor had gone to, and it was half as far away from Genosha as anywhere in New England. That was the definition of meeting Billy halfway…

But that would entirely blow anything for James being on either team.

It was a lot to process, and an entirely fresh avenue to consider. One that left James staring well beyond the city, lost in thought for a long time. When he finally snapped out of it, it was to pull up a browser on his phone and start putting out feelers. The more he thought about it, the more Oxford sounded like a good option to consider. And it wouldn't hurt to inquire. The worst they could do is say 'no', after all. Harvard still wanted him - and they were higher rated in the field, technically. Before long, James was chest deep in researching how he could go about applying to Oxford.

By the time Mia came over to talk to him a few hours later, James had put out several well-written inquiries and had began working up a real application. But Mia looked frustrated. She was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt with her arms crossed and a mild frown on her lips, and James quickly realized something was a little off.

"Have you been checking your phone?" she asked.

"No," James admitted. "Turned all my notifications off while I was reading. Why?"

"I thought that was the case," she said. "Your siblings are freaking out and I just got a message from Jan saying that if you didn't get your butt back to the tower, she was going to come here and drag you back. Something's up."

On hearing that, James was already looking through his missed texts. "Wonder if my siblings are all knotted up over Dad being … Dad."

"I mean, that's a safe bet," Mia pointed out.

James groaned as he got to his feet, though Mia was at least entertained by that. "Alright. Give me a few minutes. Gotta catch Billy between diplomatic moments."

Mia smiled crookedly. "I can text Tommy and he can deliver it to him in their creepy twin code."

"And let him get in trouble like Tommy did for not paying attention? No way. I'll get packed up and hose off. Even if the flights' just a few hours, you probably don't want to be that close when I'm sweaty anyhow."

"I do appreciate your consideration," Mia said with a smile as she walked with him to Billy's room to pack up what little he'd brought. "Of course .. you could just leave your stuff here, too. Not like you won't be back."

"Feels a little invasive," James said.

"Yeah, right," Mia laughed. "As if you two aren't on the right track. You'd probably make Billy's week - even if he can't come with us yet."

"Not pushing things with Wanda. We're not too far off from having to sit down and chat, though," James said. "But I appreciate the effort to help move things along."

She swatted him with her tail before he rushed off to wash up, then she texted Tommy anyhow - which meant Billy caught up to James more or less as he got out of the shower - freshly cleaned up, and still not shy or self conscious about his looks at all.

"I heard you're going back early," Billy said before he stole a quick kiss.

"Yeah. Jan was giving Mia a hard time because I've been ignoring my phone. It's probably time to go back anyhow. Dad and I are supposed to go to a couple more colleges and I really want to get a hold of my laptop."

"I like watching the gossip channels when you do your rounds anyhow," Billy teased. "I should be back next week."

"Alright. Try not to get too distracted with the next cute guy while I'm gone."

"Same," Billy said, then stole a longer, more involved kiss before he had to go back to helping his mom and James had to go.

As for Jan, she'd been building her reasons to worry for a long time by that point. It had started with Emma showing up, obviously, but that … she could kind of excuse that if the whole thing had just been limited to helping her after her school was destroyed. Jan understood that she didn't have to like someone to help them. And she even understood why Scott was being nice to her, because she had dated him herself and knew how he felt about the dangers of the hero life and all that.

But then Scott had sent her a text that he was spending some time alone to get his head back on straight and do some digging on the attack, and the timing was super suspicious.

Then, Jan had found out through Pepper instead of through Tony that Tony's lawyers had decided to take Emma up on letting her settle her case instead of going through with the full court press they'd been working up. Her therapist license was suspended, not revoked, and she'd have to pay some heavy restitution, but it wasn't at all what Tony had been pushing for, and Jan just knew that having Emma in the same building as Tony had screwed up that case.

And the damage was done. Irreversible. At least, it was irreversible without any new charges. But she had no proof that Emma had manipulated Tony, and even if she did, the court system wasn't exactly known for being up with the times. They probably wouldn't know what to do with a telepathic wrinkle like that.

Tony was acting a little off, too. He'd been super guilty after the original X-Men had died, so Jan wasn't surprised by how much help Tony was offering those that had been affected by the Academy's collapse. It wasn't out of character for him to help; Jan just felt like the methods were off. More monetary than concrete. Yeah, Tony liked to throw money at problems, but he threw money at the solutions, not just… cash in a vague direction.

So while Jan was tearing her hair out wondering if she needed to call Rachel or if she was just overthinking everything and misreading Tony's trauma response and Scott's mental health… she really, really needed a second opinion. Someone close to the situation who knew both of them as well or better than Jan did, respectively.

James. She wanted James. He knew Tony, and he knew Scott, and he was smart enough to catch the same subtle differences Jan had caught with a skill set that would let him catch more.

Finally, when James got back from Genosha, Jan rushed over to him and grabbed his hand. "Your dad is missing and Tony isn't acting like himself and I think he might have gotten a telepathic spanking from Emma while she was here because the legal team backed off of her and Scott's been saying he's taking time off for himself, but none of this feels right and I don't know what to think and maybe I'm just looking at it wrong because Emma dated both of the men I care about and I just need someone with clear eyes who knows them both to please tell me if I'm crazy or not?" Jan said, all of it coming out at once, her eyes wide and pleading.

"Okay, slow down. What?" James said, as if he couldn't absorb the information that fast - which was also wrong.

"Look, I know. I know we talked in the jet right after the school took a hit, and I agree with you that it was the right call to help her, but I think she took advantage of our kindness in the time she was here, and I just need someone to help me see how right I am, okay?" Jan bit her lip. "Please? I'm worried."

"Of course. Absolutely. Where do you want me to start?"

Jan let out all her breath in a whoosh and grabbed both of James's hands. "Your dad says he's doing some solo work, and while I can understand it, he shouldn't be alone right now ..."

"Okay. That should be easy to check," James said, taking out his phone. "Let me start with the simple route first." He held up one hand and texted to see if Scott would respond. Just a simple, single line. 'I'm home from Genosha, so I thought I'd touch base and see where we are for our next college visit. When is it? And where? "If he doesn't respond or blows me off, I'll step it up."

Jan nodded. "He's been taking hours to respond to me," she admitted. "I know, I know, he was depressed to start with, and he took thirty-six hours when I texted to check on him after Annie broke his heart, but he also knows it's different when he's not around anyone else."

"He shouldn't take that long to reply to me," James said. "He's never taken that long before."

"I hope you're right." Jan bounced from one foot to the other. "Tony told his lawyers to take Emma up on her deal to settle the case against her license."

James frowned at that, though. "Why?"

"You know, I asked him? And he said something about it being a bad look for the case to wrap up right as the school is leveled and it comes out that he's taking her for everything she's got."

"Maybe it would look bad if he was losing, but he wasn't." James tipped his head at that and turned to go to Tony's lab with all the subtlety of a tank. "So, after everything you went through to get the witch on the ropes, suddenly it's okay for her to touch me inappropriately … I know I'm your back up, but that is a step too far, Tony."

Tony looked up and then turned his music down as he waved James into the lab. "Hey, you're home early. What's with the warpath?"

"I'm not warpathing. Yet," James defended. "I just wanna know why it's okay for her to do the whole … inappropriate pawing routine on me. Did she touch you in the bad place when no one was around?" James asked, then crossed his arms over his chest. "That kind of thing requires decontamination at minimum with someone that doesn't have advanced healing."

"Jan already got onto me about the whole thing," Tony said.

"Oh, great. Jan needs decontamination too."

Tony groaned. "Okay, fair shot. I meant Jan wanted to know why I didn't push for more blood."

"Yeah. Me too. You had the pitbulls on her. So … explain it to me in small words that make sense all strung together. I'm not a genius, you know."

Tony gave him a dry look, then shook his head as he turned away from him, the words coming out roughly, as if he wasn't sure of the order. "I mean, it would be way too easy for her to turn the whole thing into 'The Avengers Kick Mutants While They're Down'..."

"So let her try," James said. "The fact that the filing dates are months ago, or the fact you have me as your second goes against that theory entirely, doesn't it? Or … is that all I am is a cover?"

"No. That's not- no." Tony sighed and set down the tool he'd been fiddling with. "Okay, you want to know the truth?" he said and leaned forward when James nodded. "It was just… pure reaction. The last time I pulled mutants out of rubble…"

"No, that's not true," James said, shaking his head and frowning deeper. "You've pulled mutants out over and over since I was little and you never reacted like this. And you're frustrated. What's the story, Dad? What's really going on?"

Tony blinked and then broke into a grin. "So am I Second Dad or Better Dad or…"

"You have always been a Dad Tony; take it however it makes you feel warmest and fuzziest." James smirked. "But … you know, Steve is still Uncle Steve."

"I love everything about this, and I'm going to have Jarvis mark the occasion. Every year, on this day… Tuesday? What's the date?" He glanced at his computer. "It's Wednesday. Whatever…."

"So tell me what's really going on," James said, shifting to a more open expression that had never failed him on anyone in the tower.

Tony stopped what he was doing to look up at James, and James could almost see the cogs whirring behind his eyes. But the more the cogs worked, the more Tony lost his smile - and he still didn't give James an answer. As if he wanted to, but couldn't force the words out. Which was when James suddenly got it.

"Okay. Okay, don't push. Please. I've seen that look before." James reached over to rest his hand on Tony's arm, trying to impress on him that he knew what to do. "Don't worry about it. It's okay. I shouldn't have pushed."

"Kinda feel like I need to worry about it."

"No, I'm sorry I asked," James said.

"Hey, no, don't be," Tony said quickly. "Because now I'm starting to wonder what the answer is myself, and I'm the one who did it."

"Don't do that. Just … I need to make a few calls, I think." James shifted gears quickly. "You want a coffee? Second shot at a decontamination with Jan? I think that's a good call."

Tony frowned, though he found himself fighting the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "O…kay. Not gonna turn down decontamination with Jan, but I'm gonna need an explanation later. You know that, right?"

"Yep," James agreed. "I'm just going to try to call my other dad… don't worry about anything. The Emma thing isn't the end of the world, and you're right. We have more important things to deal with."

"Yeah, working on those too," Tony said, settling back in to work. He trusted James enough to know the kid had a good reason for all this, but he was going to want to talk to him once… whatever it was blew over.

James didn't leave as he tried to call Scott, and when Scott didn't answer, he looked across the bench at Tony again, to try and shift subjects and see if he could get his Tony back. "So. I know it's sacrilege to ask, but … if Dad doesn't pull it together, I might have to ask you to be a media side show with me on a few of these college tours that are left over. It'd be a really good middle finger to MIT, media wise, too. I have a few that I know might be good options."

"Your dad still reeling that bad, huh?"

"Probably. If he doesn't reply faster, I'm going to have to go hunting for him." He reached across the workbench to take Tony's laptop - and started looking for Scott by backtracking his cell phone. No reason to wait, after all. But that trace was going to take some time. "Okay. Um … I'm going to let this run. Don't play with it. Please. I've got it running under the parameters I want." He smiled at Tony as he got up to leave. "Go … eat something solid and clean up. You stink."

"Wow. This has been a whole journey today," Tony said with a laugh. "Harsh. I went from Dad Tony to stinky."

"To be fair, you were stinky when I walked in…and by comparison, I had a shower before we flew back. Just ... listen to Jan. Eat real food. Spend time with her and take a break from this project … whatever it is … or I'll have to set off the boobytrap that I left in here last time we had a prank war going strong." As James walked by Jan he kissed her cheek and let his voice drop to just over a whisper. "Don't let him work until I get back, please? It's just a hunch, but I don't think he should be overly focused on work. I shouldn't be gone forever."

"I've got Tony covered," Jan promised and kissed his cheek. "Thank you again."

While Jan was distracting Tony, James headed off, distracted enough himself that he forgot to grab his inducer - something he never did solo. But he had things to get done and he wasn't thinking about things the way he usually did. He also didn't care about those details. And as he got into his car, he hit the call button to reach out to Craig Hale.

It only rang twice before Craig picked up, which helped James' level of impatience. "Hi Doc," James said as he got moving. "I know there's a whole … confidentiality thing, but I'm not looking for details. Can you just tell me yes or no … has my Dad talked to you since the disaster in Massachusetts?"

"No, and I've been trying to get in touch with him," Craig said, sounding stressed. "I managed to get him to pick up - once - and all he did was say he knew why I was calling and would set up a session as soon as he was done helping the people who were hurt."

"Okay. Next question, do you have any free time this afternoon?"

"Yeah, absolutely. My clients are all superheroes at this point, so, you know - pretty open when it's not slammed," Craig teased.

"Sorry about that," James said flatly.

"Don't be. I'm happy to help where there's a need - and there is."

"If it's alright, I can head over to your office now. I wanted to talk to you, but I don't want to be anywhere near the tower when I do. If you need some time, I'll grab lunch first."

"I just finished lunch, actually. You couldn't have called at a better time. Just give me twenty minutes - Evie was going to call and give me an update on Annie."

"Great, it'll take that long to get there anyhow," James said. "Thanks, Doc."

"Hey, glad to hear from you," Craig said before he hung up.

James shifted into the next gear before the line went dead, rushing to get going since at that time of day, it really should have been a longer drive - but he wanted to get moving on this quickly. As it was, the traffic gave him a chance to think it over, and more time to reach out to his dad again. But by the time he got to Craig's place, he was in deep thought. He walked up to the door and just after Craig greeted him - before he crossed the threshold - he very nearly stopped entirely, half freezing in place as a chill swept over him and he found himself dealing with a thick brain fog that twisted his stomach and brought back flashes of unintelligible whispers as he leaned against a basement wall. But he hadn't actually stopped, and simple momentum carried him forward before it hit him fully.

Craig didn't bother trying to hide his concern as he took James's arm and pulled him inside, guiding him over to sit down, even as he was reeling. "What… are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked.

It took James a moment to answer - psychic backlash was wicked regardless of who it was dealing with it. And he was grasping to remember what felt just out of reach. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," James said, one hand tented over his eyes. "Damnit. Sorry. I wasn't expecting this."

"I'm operatin' in the dark, here," Craig said, frowning at him hard.

"I know," James said, finally looking up at him with one eye open, and looking more angry as the seconds ticked by. "Can you get Annie over here - but … maybe have someone else bring her here without telling her where she's going? I think I know what's going on."

"Okay," Craig said slowly.

"I know, it's a weird request. The alternative is that we just … go over there. I don't want her to disappear, though. And I think she would if she knew I was coming."

"Yeah, neither do I. But I would like some clarity when, y'know, it's my sister we're talking about here."

James let out a sigh. "I have been freezing since that stupid school blew up," he said. "The only time I felt even halfway warm was on the beach in Genosha - on the equator. That's really weird for me. I haven't been able to think clearly, but I couldn't quite see it that way." James raised one eyebrow and pointed at Craig. "Until I walked through your door."

Craig understood all at once and narrowed his eyes. "I'll tell Evie to bring Annie by," he said, getting to his feet.

"Bring her device, too. I'll bet everything it's not working."

"Yeah, and I'll tell Evie not to let Annie know she's got it," Craig promised.

"Okay, and while we're waiting, I can tell you what else I know - and suspect." He took his phone out. "But I need to tell my brother to relax a little and play it cool. He's doing an amazing impression of Dad right now."

"Great. We'll compare notes after we talk to our siblings," Craig said - off to tell Evie that he wanted her to tell Annie it was his professional opinion she needed to get out of the house and go for a drive.

Once Craig was done and James was off the phone too, Craig turned back to James. "What's the damage?" he asked seriously.

"In some spots, it's pretty bad. I'm not sure yet, but I sent a text to Jan telling her where the back up devices are in my lab - and to turn one on next to Tony," he said. "I think Frost attacked him while she was at the tower. Made him settle on that lawsuit." He worked his jaw as he thought it over. "I got her out of the wreckage myself, and I can't remember half of how I did that. So I'm going to have Nate look in my head - see if he can find what she screwed with, because I know there's no way she could get into my head if I didn't let her - and I don't remember giving her permission."

"And you don't remember even in my office?" Craig asked. "I thought the device you gave me blocked telepathic interference."

"I can remember flashes, but the device stops current telepathic interference. If she messed with my memory, it's not going to instantly fix itself. It takes a lot for a telepath to modify memories, though. It's not usually worth the time. I'd need Nate to see if she locked them up, changed them, or just … erased them entirely."

Craig nodded. "And Annie?"

"I don't know. I don't think that Frost would take the time or put in the effort to do more than keep her back until it was too late to do anything else. Like I said - it takes a lot of effort to mess with memory, and telepaths have trouble with me anyhow. She might have had to do more in case her grip on me slipped."

"Annie won't talk to me or Evie or even Anton about the breakup - and Anton's been her shoulder to cry on when she needs someone she didn't grow up with."

"Yeah, but when I saw her … it's weird," James said. "I saw the same look on Tony's face, just less intense. I think she's blocked from talking about what Emma doesn't want her to talk about, regardless of who she's with."

"We'll see soon enough," Craig said, though he was pacing, and his accent was getting deeper, obviously showing how worried he was.

After plenty of pacing, though, eventually, Craig's sisters showed up at the door to Craig's office - and Craig saw on the security camera that Evie was struggling even holding Annie in place. "She's acting like you did," Craig said, gesturing at the video on his way to the door.

"Pull her in," James said.

Craig didn't need the prompting and had already thrown open the door to yank Annie inside - and into a hug. "Sorry 'bout the theatrics, but we think we know what's goin' on," Craig told her as she clutched onto him in the hug.

"Whatever it is, I feel like I'm gonna throw up," Annie said, and Craig helped her sit down.

"Sorry it took so long for me to start fixing this, Miss Hale," James said. "I knew something was wrong, but I didn't dig into it hard enough."

Annie glanced up, saw James, and promptly burst into tears. "James, I am so, so sorry. I don't know what happened and I didn't mean a word and-" She gasped in a breath as she started to cry harder. "I don't know why I did that. I was there, and I don't know why I did that!"

"You didn't," James said. "It was Emma Frost." He turned toward Evie. "Do you have the device? I just need to check my theory." He had his hand out as Evie dug it up, and in a couple of quick, hard twists, James cracked it open on the coffee table and started tearing into it until he found the fried circuit. "Do you have any other electronics that don't work at your house all of a sudden?"

"Oh, we had a power surge on the block a while back. The neighbors and I got together while we waited for the power company," Annie admitted.

"Power surges wouldn't kill this," James said. "Was it right about the time all this crap happened?"

Annie's eyes went wide as she caught up. "Night before," she said, gingerly reaching for part of the device, then holding a screw in her fingers and turning it almost compulsively. "I've been half out of my mind trying to figure out why I broke up with him," she said softly, her tone starting to harden into anger instead of desperate confusion.

"I really am sorry," James said. "I knew something was off that day - I should have dug deeper sooner. I went into damage control instead."

"We all knew something was off," Evie assured him as she came to sit beside Annie. "But seein' as you whipped up the telepathic thingy, we didn't even think about that option."

"Exactly," Annie agreed, wiping her eyes. "I thought maybe it was stress or… Craig has been helping me trying to see if it was anything in his specialty…"

A knock at the door announced Nate's arrival, and once Craig let him in, James held his gaze. "Telepathic disruptor is on, so for you to do what you do, it'll take the big guns."

"What will take the big guns?" Nate asked with a frown as he ran one hand through his hair. "And how big of big guns?"

"You'll need to either hit the feedback for any telepaths for a radius of your choosing, or push through the disruptor. I need you to dig around my head. Don't worry about being nice, I'll be fine. Emma Frost was playing with my memories and my perception. Figure out what she did and fix it, please. Whatever it takes."

"Oh." Nate blinked, and then his eyes started to glow as his shoulders dropped. "Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but that's actually a relief to hear, because otherwise, you'd have been backing Dad up on alone time with her of your own free will."

"You'll probably want to start at the school wreckage," James said, stretching to touch the wall with one hand to steady himself as Nate reached out to rest his fingers at James' temples. "Halfway through the recovery effort, I lost time."

"Got it," Nate said, his eyes glowing brighter, though he took it a step further and levitated both of them in case James did lose his balance anyhow.

To the Hales, it didn't look like Nate was doing much of anything, but when his eyes stopped glowing, he gently let both of their feet touch the ground, then he sat down and looked like he'd just been running laps as James crouched down where he was and covered his eyes with one hand - reeling from all Nate had to do so quickly.

"Well, that was fun," Nate said, shooting at glare at James. "What the hell were you thinking letting her in in the first place?"

"You were just poking around there, you tell me," James countered, his tone almost as short as Nate's was.

"It sure looked like you let her sucker you into it," Nate said. "Just because she called you Logan!"

James let out a breath. "Yeah…that wasn't all of it, but yeah. I know; she threw me off." He closed his eyes as he tried to reach for it. "But I don't think that was all it took. What am I missing?"

"No, it wasn't just that. She told you she needed to get in so she could show you how to navigate through the secret basement," Nate said. "Which is almost reasonable, but still."

"Its not clear to me," James said. "So, whatever you did in there to knock it loose is probably going to take some time to straighten out."

"Yeah, I just salted all of the ice in your mind, for lack of a better analogy. Once the salt melts the ice, so to speak, you should get it all back," Nate said. "I'm going to want the actual play by play. And you need Rachel or me to go through your mind when the ice is gone."

"Okay. She leave any suggestions in there I should know about?"

"Mostly to back Tony and Scott up on whatever decisions she had them make. Give them legitimacy so it doesn't look like it's purely her influence." Nate paused, not wanting to trigger his brother by telling him she'd locked up a lot of the trauma surrounding being touched or looked at. "And then she wanted you to move to Genosha so you wouldn't be as much of a pain as Logan was to her."

"Alright then," James said as he slapped his knees with both hands and stood up. "She did call me Logan. I guess I have to deliver."

"Do you think you could do the same thing for me?" Annie asked Nate, reaching out to grab his arm.

"Yeah," James said as Nate smiled at her. "Take care of Annie, she's been dealing with direction and suggestion for weeks - and you need to make sure she's okay with getting some pretty substantial shields. Then, do me a favor and go hit Tony too, please." He had his keys in his hand and was headed for the door. "I'll call in a little while."

"Wait - where you going?" Nate asked.

"I'm getting Dad," James said, giving Nate a determined look.

"When you find him, tell him he needs to schedule a session with me now," Craig said. "Even if Nate cleans him up, this… this is going to take some unraveling," he added, crossing his arms as he looked around the room at the varying degrees of shock and anger.

"He will be coming back with me, and we'll be headed to the tower. You've probably got a few hours to get there, and like every other big dirty mess we make, you'd be better off to go there ahead of the carnage."

"Got it," Craig said - though James was already halfway out the door by that point.

And as soon as the door shut behind him, Annie smiled lightly and raised an eyebrow at Nate. "He must really be mad. He actually called me by my name."

"Yeah, that's a special level of angry I wouldn't wish on anybody," Nate agreed as he held out his hand to her. "Now, Miss Hale, let's get your head back on straight."

James had a few ideas about where Scott might be, and he had asked Jan to tell him where Scott's phone was pinging. But as all the options that Emma would have allowed were upstate from where they were, James started out by heading north out of the city - and shifted course when Jan confirmed where the phone was last active anyhow. Even if it was off, that would be a starting point for James.

He still had a solid hour and a half drive while speeding ridiculously, but the burn he had going in the pit of his stomach was so much more pressing than other concerns. So he put the pedal to the floor and wove through traffic - disregarding the fact that showing up in that car would blow that location entirely.

He knew he had the right spot when he pulled up, especially with the familiar plain white SUV outside.

Before James had shown up, Scott had of course known that something wasn't right, but he'd already been blaming himself for doing what he had always done. For letting himself get so caught up in trying to be okay in the face of the worst the world could throw at him that Emma had always felt like a relief.

Jean, Annie - they were refuges. Being with them let him feel safe. He could tell them what was on his mind, and they would sit with him. Emma - she had always been a way for him to not address what was going on. To not think and to just… just be selfish for a change. And he always hated himself for it, because really, what was he doing when he was with her? But he'd never been able to bring himself to hate Emma. Didn't matter what Craig said or what the kids thought; he knew the truth of it was that he'd always - always - liked that Emma didn't ask him to face the aftermath of the worst traumas of his life. She let him hide from them.

Which, admittedly, was incredibly unhealthy. But it was also such a draw that Scott honestly did believe that he was just falling back on an old crutch. When she'd started to suggest that she might like to go back to Westchester with him now that she had no place to go, he'd started to realize she might have been orchestrating more than just a relationship, especially when she knew how everyone there felt about her.

She also knew that all of the new group of X-Men and so many of the older X-Men trusted him, so that if he vouched for her…

He wasn't comfortable with the idea, though. It had happened that way once before, after all - even if he couldn't quite compare the two scenarios. And that was the one boundary he kept holding the line on - anything involving his family. Especially the kids. He didn't want her to come home with him, and he didn't want her on the team that his kids had built themselves, from the ground up. And when she kept pushing, and he stepped away from her … that was when he finally realized that he felt colder than usual. This wasn't just about Emma pushing her way into his life again. She'd been planning to use his influence. Again. And her touch was in everything about the team.

When James had shown up at that hideout, Scott had already been outside for a while because he'd wanted some air - and so he'd seen the car and gotten the silent alarms that flashed at a frequency his cybernetic eyes picked up. His phone buzzed to let him know about the alarm, too, but he didn't need that one.

James got out and held Scott's gaze as he slowly closed the car door. "You're not answering anyone's calls or texts. You okay, Dad?"

What Scott had intended to do was to have James help him get Emma somewhere else - preferably with one of the telepathically-interfering devices James had created - but as soon as Emma had realized who was coming and knew James wasn't going to put up with her games, Scott felt like his entire mind had frozen.

Not as if it had stopped - like it had literally frozen over, and he was trapped behind layers and layers of ice.

Scott instantly knew what had happened. All the time Emma had been around, she must have been laying the telepathic groundwork for just this possibility. She knew he wasn't the same man who had let her run the X-Men with him for a short time; he was much more guarded. So she'd already made a plan for if he decided he didn't want to use his good name to make his family open their minds to her like he'd done before. She'd just force him to tell them to do it instead. Or make them do it to save him.

With a frustrated shout, Scott set to work trying to break out of the icy prison, though he could only do so much work when he was distracted watching James confront him, watching Emma talk to James through him.

"Sorry; I slept in," Scott said - which in itself wasn't too different from how he'd been acting since the breakup as far as James was concerned but ...

"You slept in for two days solid?" James asked, simply because it still didn't feel right. "Rachel has been getting worried."

Scott winced and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be out of contact. I guess I didn't realize it had been that long."

James glanced toward the end of the driveway. "Well … let me help you fix that. Tell me what you want to say and I'll text one while you call the other. Nate's pacing, too." He started toward the cabin, ready to stroll right in - especially when he could smell Emma's perfume drifting off of Scott.

As he passed Scott at the stairs, though, Scott reached out to catch him by the shoulder. "You brought your car, James. Without the camo. You know that means we'll have to scrub this place."

"Yeah. Oops. I'll buy you three more to make up for it."

"That's not the point," Scott said. "It was reckless, and that's not like you."

"You're right. I'm not okay. I can admit it. But this place was already compromised, Dad," James said, holding his gaze. "No visitors, remember?"

Scott frowned, and James could see the exact same struggle he'd seen on Tony's face. "I thought you were on Genosha."

"I was. Then I realized I can't tan and don't like the tropics," James deadpanned.

"Did something happen with you and Billy?" Scott asked, sounding concerned.

"Yep. Mia and I blew up a couple of diplomatic meetings for them. So we came back. Surprised you didn't even read Alex's texts."

"He sent pictures. We talked. If anything, he was concerned you were acting too much like a Spring Breaker. That's not like you." When James simply kept his gaze, not about to let Scott deflect the conversation onto him, Scott crossed his arms. "Tell you what, I'll call Rachel and let her know I'm fine."

Something in how he said it … the meter was a little off, and it came across as if he was sending off Toby … not James or his siblings. So James planted his feet so Scott couldn't just brush him off. "Great, call Rachel. I'll stick with you while you do that, and I'll text Nate and let him know you're lying to my face."

"Excuse me?"

"You. Are. Lying." James held his ground. "You're not anywhere close to alright. Or fine. Or whatever synonym you want to go with today."

"You act like every one of us hasn't said that anyway. It's not newsworthy, James."

"Dad."

Scott let out a frustrated sound. "Fine. So I'm not sleeping well."

"I thought you slept in."

"Yeah. Because I'm not sleeping well," Scott said.

"Probably because you're not sleeping alone. Can't exactly ignore that."

Scott narrowed his eyes, and his entire demeanor changed. Instead of looking like he was tired and trying to get back to sleep, he threw his hand out to point at the car, anger dripping in just the two words he said: "Get out."

"No."

"You show up in your flashy damn car, blow my security, act like you know a thing about what it's been like, and now you're calling me a liar? Get out."

James made a point of holding steady as Scott got angrier, watching his facial expressions and body language closely, though he had never been in a situation where he had to take this level of anger from him. "Dad, you are lying, that's the definition of a liar. And you're turning your back on everyone that loves you. You're not yourself - so NO, I'm not going anywhere. Not without you."

"How dare you," Scott said, pointing a finger in his face. "I take a few days to myself after a damn school collapses and you think that means I'm-"

"Never, in your life, not even after your own school and your own people were in that situation, have you ever turned your back on your family, so no, I'm not buying it."

At first, Scott couldn't help but be proud of his middle child. James had figured it out - of course he had; he was as smart as a whip. And he wasn't taking Emma's crap, even if it came out of Scott's mouth. That was impressive itself - being able to separate the person talking from the person supplying the words. Not always easy to do.

And then…

"You don't qualify as family," Scott said through his teeth. "Take the damn hint, James. I've been trying to find you somewhere - anywhere to go so that you're finally out of my hair. That's been the case for years. From the start. That's why I kept sending you away while you were growing up! I should have known they couldn't handle you being around them either!"

"Well you haven't managed it yet," James said, though there was a mild shake to his voice. "And I'll be damned if I let Emma Frost dictate that for anyone but the clones she abandoned when they were done growing in their test tubes."

"Get out," Scott said in an icy tone. "I never should have taken you in. Just you breathing has only ever made life harder and more dangerous for everyone around you and I am sick of wasting my life and risking my family trying to pretend like it's not all your fault. I don't want you here or anywhere near me- don't you get that?"

"No-" Whether it was an argument or breathless shock, the tone alone was hard to decipher.

Emma, when I get out of this, I'm going to kill you, Scott snarled in his mindscape from behind the ice, taking a mental ice pick to the wall between him and his consciousness with all the force of a desperate parent trying to get to his son. Because what he heard Emma saying in his voice went so far beyond just crossing a line… God, that was going to stick with James forever. The kid knew it wasn't him, and it was still going to stick, because it was exactly what James had always been afraid of hearing from Scott and-

And Scott knew that it meant Emma had been in James's head too.

How much of that damn explosion was even real? Did you stage the whole thing? Scott shouted in his mind, once again sending ice shards flying as he put a small dent in his prison. He wished he had Rachel there, with her warm telepathic touch that would be so naturally opposed to Emma's, but Jean had left him with good enough tools that he could get out of this. He just needed time… something he didn't have when Emma was traumatizing James using Scott. But James seemed determined to follow his mission through - giving Emma more time to spew out increasingly horrifying things.

Outside of his mindscape, Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. "Your father couldn't take a hint either, and you are just like him in all the worst ways." He turned to walk away, only to spin and shout some more. "You are the real reason everything fell apart, James. I guess thought I could help you be better than the animal your father was, but I was wrong. So wrong. And maybe I didn't make it clear enough when I told you how it happened all those years ago. But our lives fell apart that day the moment Jean saw you. She gave up and I should have left you there instead of trying to save you. Maybe it's not your fault. Maybe it's just because of what you are. I don't care - and I haven't been able to since you proved you're nothing but a cold blooded killer - no matter how hard Tony Stark tries to polish you into something more. I'm done," he said, accenting his last word with a sharp wave before he turned and headed for the door.

For just an instant, James stared at him in shock before he moved without processing what he was doing. With a slam, James pulled the door shut before Scott could get there himself. "Get in the car, Dad," James said as he took a hold of his arm.

"Absolutely not." Scott yanked his arm away from James and again pointed a finger in his face, accenting his harsh words. "Don't call me dad. You're not my son and you never were."

James held his breath, then barely managed to speak clearly again, but it came out in a warning tone. "I don't want to force you to go with me, but I will."

Scott scoffed at that. "Get the hell out of my way."

"Sorry, Scott," James said, then moved too fast for Scott to counter him. With a sharp crack, James struck out - and knocked him out cold. He had to take a moment to steady himself after Scott hit the ground, and he blew his breath out between his lips before he turned his attention to the front door. "Frost, it's over. Come after me again and you won't live through it. Come after him or anyone else I love again, and I will drag it out when I kill you."

Scott was nearly beside himself, only staying upright in his mind because he needed to break through. Sure, not having any idea what was going on around him meant he could focus on his own mind, but it also made his defenses fuzzier. Dreaming and unconsciousness were like water; he could still move, but slower than normal. And everything was darker. And it was harder to concentrate, because dreams and unconscious thoughts started to come out of the doors of the hallways in his mind, taking strolls through memories and fears alike.

A few times, Scott forgot why he was even behind ice - or else he got distracted by a dream or nightmare. And when he did remember what he was doing, the damage he'd managed to do to the ice was gone, and if anything, he felt like the walls were thicker and the bubble he was confined in had gotten colder.

He shivered and stomped his feet a few times, trying to focus. But he was losing ground.

With a shaky breath, James picked Scott up and headed for his car. He didn't care what might belong to Scott in that place. All he wanted to do was get distance between them and Emma - the faster the better. He gently settled Scott into the passenger seat, then rushed to climb in and peeled out as they headed back to the city. He was several miles away from that first town when he had to pull over and take just a moment. He hadn't ever considered hitting his dad like that. Scott. Whatever. His hands were shaking, and he needed a breath. So he took a couple of minutes on the side of the road, hyperventilating, to get a better grip on himself.

She'd been in my head. She knew where to hit because I gave it to her. He had to remind himself that. And because he'd stupidly let her in, Emma knew exactly where to hit, what to say, and how to do it to make it sting hardest. But he couldn't get over the fact that knowing all that, his gut reaction was to hit Scott with a right hook. Again, he'd let his instincts take over - and he hated himself for it.

Regardless of the nightmares he was bound to get from that little encounter, he knew it wasn't Scott. Yes, it was his voice, his anger … his gestures … but he wasn't in control of himself. He just had to hope that Scott wasn't going to hold it against him. Especially when he hadn't pulled the punch, either. He was too angry and hurt to hold back.

And if Scott did hold it against him … if even some of what he'd said were actual thoughts of his own - if somewhere deep down that really was how Scott felt … at least he would be back in his right mind for Rachel and Nate.

Once James finally got back on the road, he hit the button on his phone to call Nate. "Yeah, hi. I'm on my way."

"How'd it go?"

James let out an anxious laugh. "Well … I've got him. Ah … get … Hank and Tyler to meet us."

"That bad, huh? You stab her or something?"

"Something." James scrubbed his hand over his eyes for a second, then shifted gears to go faster.

"Wouldn't blame you," Nate said.

"Yeah, no. She got off with a warning," James said, then braced himself because they needed to know ahead of time. "I knocked him out."

"Dad?" Nate sounded shocked even over the phone. "Why?"

James' breathing was still a little shaky. "Ah, she had completely taken over his mind. He wasn't going to come with me on his own."

"And you didn't stab her because…"

"I just wanted to get him out of there," James said. "Listen. I'm going to drive faster, okay? I can't exactly feel my extremities right now, so I probably did a number to myself. Markers for shock. Ah -have them ready to help him when we get there."

"Oh man," Nate said in a breath.

"Right. So… I didn't really care about Emma at the time. I… am almost positive I broke his face, too.."

"Hey, it's okay," Nate said quickly. "Pretty sure that's allowed in mind control cases."

"Don't tell Rachel what I did, please," James said.

"Yeah, I'm not stupid," Nate said. "Rachel hears about this before we get Dad clear of ice and she'll burn it out of him."

"It'd be quicker," James deadpanned. "Just … listen, I know you're strong enough, and you've been downplaying it for years. Can you jail break his head and block Frost from doing anything before we get there, because I don't know if I can do that to him again."

"Yeah," Nate said. "I'll see you guys when you get to the tower. I need to concentrate."

By the time Nate showed up in Scott's mind to find his dad half distracted by a dream that drew from old memories, Scott was lost. The ice Scott had managed to chip away had drifted through his memories and turned to snow, prompting his unconscious mind to remember Alaska - to remember the extreme chill in the air when he and Alex had been alone in the woods with nothing but the burned tatters of a parachute.

As Scott watched the memory play out, Nate stepped toward him, and it shifted the memory/dream so that Nate was the one with Scott in the woods. But Nate didn't have the dreamlike quality the rest of the memory, did, so Scott frowned, paused, and asked, "That you, Nate?"

"Sure is," Nate replied. "There is a lot of ice in here. You still you?"

"In here? Yeah. Out there? Definitely not," Scott said, obviously frustrated as he went back to chipping away at the ice. "This would be easier if I was conscious," he muttered.

"You don't want to be awake right now," Nate said. "You wake up and it's going to hurt."

"More or less than the fact that James is hearing his worst fears from me?" Scott said, gesturing sharply.

"Well, he's not hearing that anymore," Nate said. "He called and told me he knocked you out and you're on the way to the tower. Emma was screwing with Annie. He fixed that before he went for you." Nate frowned to himself and drew up a psychic pickaxe. "Pickaxes work better, right?"

"Right," Scott said, glancing down at the tool in his hand. "Sorry, it's… hard to concentrate."

"I can help a little with that," Nate said, then did what he could to bolster Scott up. "It's not a lot, but I'm not exactly right next to you, either."

"Yeah." Scott gestured with both hands at the ice bubble. "I already told her she's not walking away from this. This is a line she can't cross."

"I'm still surprised James didn't just stab her," Nate said.

"She wasn't outside. For exactly that reason."

"Oh, no. A door. However would he manage that?"

Scott chuckled. "You know what I mean. She used me as a human shield to protect herself from him." His hands closed in fists at the statement, and he slammed one hand against the side of the bubble. "I have to get out. I need to talk to James. Now." On the last word, Nate heard a strange zapping sound, and the next second, there was a hole straight through the middle of the bubble in a direct line from Scott's eyes.

"Or … that … would work better than a pickaxe …" Nate was starting to smile.

Scott let out a disbelieving laugh. "I told you; I'm having a hard time concentrating. If I'd been thinking, this would have been my first option."

"Shutting up," Nate said, holding up both hands. "But that was very cool, by the way."

"Not what I meant," Scott said, shaking his head, though even Nate could feel the chill as that only prompted Scott to think, At this rate, I'll manage to insult all my kids even in my right mind, which Nate could hear, since he was right there and Scott's defenses were so weak.

To be fair, if Billy were here, I'd have him wish me to Westchester so I could boost with Cerebro and turn her into a doorstop. Mentally. He frowned, and paused in his attack on the ice to widen the broken section. No. It's probably better if he just stays in Genosha if we're doing telepathic takedowns.

Probably, Scott said, though he couldn't focus much on Nate when something else was swimming in his conscious mind - and he realized he was waking up. He saw James in the driver's seat and wanted to apologize, wanted to promise that he believed absolutely zero of the words that had come out of his mouth … but as soon as he was even a little bit conscious, he was also aware of how much pain he was in.

James was focused on getting home fast, though he had to side eye Scott when he started to stir, making soft noises that obviously indicated he was waking up - and wasn't feeling good.

"Ow," Scott said quietly when he tried to sit up better and got a wave of pain for his trouble.

James glanced over, not at all sure of what he'd do if there was trouble. "We gonna have a problem?" He hadn't meant to sound so much like Logan just then, but he didn't trust Scott at that moment, either.

The ice around Scott's mind made looking at his conscious awareness like looking through a prism, and Scott could swear that was Logan driving the car, even if he knew better. Scott frowned at James for a longer time than his question necessitated. "I'm not starting a fight in a speeding car," he decided at last, his voice thick from his injuries.

"I wouldn't recommend doing it when we stop, either," James growled out, hating that he hadn't meant to growl at all, but it was rolling like an undertone when he spoke.

Scott let out a sigh and reached up to gingerly touch his face. His nose was broken, and his jaw was already swelling where it was broken, too. He wasn't sure, but that might not have been all that had cracked in either the punch or whatever he hit when he fell. He could talk, but it didn't feel great, either.

That was all Scott could manage before Emma, operating in the shadows of his mind even then - pushed him back, jockeying for control of his body by using an overly distracting memory in tandem with her psychic attack, this time of exactly how betrayed Scott had felt when he realized Jean had actually pursued Logan. And that Logan had gone along with it.

Scott fell back a step, but he had the advantage this time of being awake, being angry and hurt, and knowing that James was in the car with him and that he couldn't let Emma speak to him again. So, as Nate watched and worked to keep the ice from overwhelming his dad, a different memory came to mind, this one of Jean getting in Emma's face, throwing her out of the living room with a bit of fire chasing Emma out in the process.

Scott glanced toward Nate, who was watching the memories with both eyebrows raised, and smirked. "That was after Jean came back from the dead," he explained. "I wanted to go back to the way things were with Jean, Emma disagreed, and Jean decided the argument was over."

"Go Mom," Nate said quietly.

Scott nodded, smiling fondly. "You should have seen the way she told Emma we were expecting," he said, and the memory shifted to show Scott laughing as Jean showed him the fiery baby announcement beamed directly into Emma's head. The two of them had hoped then that it would lessen Emma's overtures, because Scott was a father now, and Emma didn't do children.

The memory shifted again, this time to Jean doubled over laughing as K casually informed them that Emma wouldn't be continuing to stay at the institute, because she suddenly decided her interests were better served where people didn't shove claws nearly up her nose because she dared to suggest that a baby was only a speedbump in the grand scheme of things.

"She looked like she was thinking about doing something I'd have to make her regret," K had said primly, and that got Scott laughing too.

It was obvious that the memories of Emma being stopped or having to face consequences were doing more to break her hold on Scott than anything else they'd done, and Scott grinned triumphantly when he realized he was back in control of his body.

"We should go home," Scott told James softly.

"Maybe after you're patched up," James said, stewing on the fact that Nate was right. He should have taken a moment to stab Emma.

Scott frowned and watched the road for a moment, still obviously not himself. "Alright," he said at last. "Yeah. Probably should get patched up."

James tried not to react, though he tightened his jaw and flexed his hands on the wheel. They were getting closer - and James was more than happy to break a few more speeding laws to get there now. He didn't trust that Scott would stay in the car on his own when they inevitably hit a stop sign, and though he was no longer as shaken up, he really didn't want to chase him down and knock him out again. But he would if he had to.

And then, Scott was once again lost in his mindscape and couldn't see - and he realized quickly that Emma had dragged him and Nate into a different memory. And in the pitch black, he heard Sabretooth laughing over the sound of a fight.

"Oh shit," Scott said, and Nate turned his way with his whole body. "Nate get out-" Before he could finish, they both heard a soft, barely contained sound of pain, and Scott looked pale. He'd heard K die, and while he hadn't seen the gory details himself, he had heard enough injuries and bones breaking in his lifetime to know what fatal damage sounded like.

Nate didn't recognize some of the voices or have the full context, but soon enough, he could hear the others who had been there. The loudest was Jean, who had been right beside Scott at the time, trying and failing to hold back gasps. Even in the memory, Nate could feel how hot Jean's touch had been as she grasped Scott's arm.

And then, everyone started screaming, and Nate nearly fell over when he was hit by the pure despair Scott had felt when he realized K was dead. It left both of them reeling even through the sounds of the overly short fight between Logan and Sabretooth.

They heard the scrape of keys in locks, and Nate glanced toward Scott, realizing his dad looked green and had stumbled to sit down - even though it sounded like everyone was just… talking.

And then… snikt.

Nate had heard a similar sound with James, but not like that. Not metallic and sharp and - and so final-sounding. It had ended hollowly, unlike when he'd heard Logan's claws when the Logan from another dimension had trained them. There was no echo- and there should have been.

Then, Kurt started to panic, and Nate understood all at once what Scott was reliving. This was the moment he'd lost Logan too - and Nate could feel in that memory just how much Scott blamed himself for not seeing it, for losing his sight and being useless.

Nate could see that his dad was clearly spiraling, and he had to stop this before he wasn't able to fight back at all. It was already headed that way. So, he reached outside of the memory and yanked a better one, any better one. He didn't even know what it was; he just knew that it felt warm and loving and was behind a door that Scott had been pulling other good memories from.

The next thing he knew, he was watching himself as a little kid, leaned on Scott with his mouth slightly open as he tried and failed to stay awake to watch a movie. James had already fallen asleep on Scott's other side, and Rachel was on the other side of Nate, frowning at the three of them. But instead of trying to get into the snuggle, she left the room - and came back with two of her favorite stuffed animals that she tucked in next to each of the boys.

It was a little memory, but what Rachel hadn't known was that Scott had just been mentally drowning and worried that he wasn't going to be able to do right by those kids. And just at that moment, Rachel had come in with all the love a little girl was able to give, and, well, he knew he must have been doing something right.

The memory was enough to push the darkness of Scott's blind memories away - at least enough that Nate and Scott were able to push them the rest of the way back behind the door they were supposed to be locked in. Most of the ice had returned while they'd been distracted, but all at once… the ice wasn't expanding, either. And no new attacks were coming.

Rachel stepped in, already starting to melt some of the ice with her presence alone. "Did you need an intergalactic space heater?" Rachel asked brightly - just because she was so glad her dad was away from that witch.

"What?" Nate asked with a crooked frown.

"Nevermind. You would have had to have been there. How hot do you want it, Dad?" Rachel asked.

"I have a high heat tolerance," Scott said, though he was grinning as he rushed over to her to hug her. "You've got it under control, right?"

"Oh yeah. We're working pretty well together, honestly," Rachel promised.

Scott smirked at that. "Woe be the telepath that makes you and the Phoenix mad."

"Yeah, seems like the Phoenix wanted to try behaving when every single person around me wasn't pushing to turn it off or control it entirely," Rachel said.

"I'm not complaining. I need to get out and find James," Scott said.

"Good," Rachel said as she started to turn the heat up. "I think he's planning to head to his lab - but you need to talk to Craig first." She turned to Nate. "If you haven't had time to clear any suggestions, now would be great."

"We were playing defense," Nate pointed out.

"Thought you were good at that," Rachel teased.

"Yeah, well…" Nate gestured around. "Believe it or not, this was an improvement."

"I believe it," Rachel said, and Nate and Scott were watching literal mountains worth of ice melt astonishingly fast.