Chapter Thirteen

After soaking up some much-needed Alex time, I headed back inside to a conversation I was dreading, just a bit. I found Erik in our room just as he was slipping on a shirt. "I hope you're not getting dressed on my account," I teased.

Instead of smiling like I'd hoped he would, he sighed, shoulders dropping in a slump. "I thought you regretted last night," he confessed. "I thought you had changed your mind. And I can't keep going with this. I'll give you space to figure out what you want, but I can't keep this up and down, back and forth we've been doing. It's killing me, and I-"

I grimaced and cut him off. "I'm sorry. I woke up to you next to me, and I panicked. And instead of you leaving while I was sleeping, like I was terrified would happen, I left you. It wasn't fair, and I'm sorry. And I can't promise I won't overreact again, but I want to try. I want to make us work, Erik. I want to trust you, and I want you to trust me."

Erik looked at me for a long moment, and I couldn't interpret his expression. But just as I thought he was going to break my heart again, he took the four steps separating us to sweep me into his arms. "Ich liebe dich. I love you, Bianca."

"I love you, too, that's why I was so angry with you," I whispered, cuddling into his embrace.

He pressed a kiss to my hair. "I can't promise I won't make you angry again," he began, playing with the ends of my hair, "but I can promise that I will always come back to you."

"That's all I need," I sighed. "Or, I'll try to make that all I need."

Erik laughed and kissed me, long and hard. "I love you, Bianca Serena. I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone."

"And I love you exactly the way I was afraid I would love someone, so you may not ever break my heart again," I told him sternly. "I'm not entirely certain I could survive it."

After several more long kisses that left me breathless, we eventually wandered out of our room to find Charles trying to figure something out for breakfast for us all. He'd left Moira sleeping, and even for all his genius, cooking still seemed out of his grasp. So, I laughed and pushed him out of the way, taking over from his attempts at French toast for everyone. Erik helped, or at least tried to. Since we were out of practice with being around each other, we often got in each other's way. I didn't mind terribly, since every time we bumped into each other, we was quick to leave a kiss on my lips. "Ugh, Mom, Dad, please, no kissing in front of the kids," Alex teased, propping up a still mostly asleep Lotta against him as he settled into one of the stools along the bar.

"If Erik is Dad, what does that make me?" Charles asked. He had affected a hurt tone, but I knew without even seeing his face that he was amused.

"The weird uncle who pays for everything," Sean replied, though sounding rather winded as Hank set him down in a chair. I practically flew to his side to check on him. He simply grinned and let me, asking, "So is Dad here to stay this time?"

"Absolutely," Erik replied, taking a second from flipping the toast to look each boy in the eye, even though Hank was a bit stubborn about it. "I'm not leaving you all again."

"Good, 'cause we'd hate to kill you for breaking Bianca's heart again," Hank said, utterly serious, finally meeting his gaze.

"I would deserve it," Erik agreed softly.

They were ridiculous, I decided, with a great deal of fondness. "Alright, who wants breakfast?" I asked as I stood up. I couldn't stop myself from dropping a kiss to Sean's forehead on the way, though.

Between Erik and me, we were able to get everyone fed. Ink, Toad, and Spike tended to stay where they could see Alex, since he was the only one they knew, but the rest of the soldiers stayed mostly to themselves. They were polite, for the most part, but incredibly wary. And I couldn't blame them. After all, they had been tortured and experimented on. Who wouldn't be wary after that? Thompkins proved the one exception, eager to learn more about the school and what we were trying to do for everyone. He talked with the boys and Lotta for hours, and they all seemed happy to answer any questions he might have.

And speaking of questions, I had some that I wanted answered, and I spotted Logan sitting by himself on the beach, which gave me the perfect opportunity to get them answered. I kissed Erik on the cheek, mostly to keep him mollified, then grabbed two glasses of juice and walked out the door.

"This pineapple orange juice is amazing," I offered, coming to sit next to Logan under the palm tree. Even with it not being ten o'clock yet, it was still on the warmer side of comfortable, so the added shade was nice. "You should try some."

"Hank wasn't kidding when he said you would mother anyone in your vicinity," he replied, a light smirk twisting his lips as he accepted the glass.

"I think he just said the school," I corrected, taking a drink from my own glass.

Logan just laughed. "I didn't mean yesterday. Hank talks about you a lot in the future. Or, well, the future that hopefully won't happen, since we've successfully saved you. But losing you really hit Hank hard, even though he managed to usually channel it into something productive. By the time I'd met him in the early two thousands, he'd had several thousand patents approved. He was even on the President's cabinet, Secretary of Mutant Affairs."

I stared at him, torn between awe and fear. "I know Hank already has over two hundred patents, but thousands? And a member of the President's cabinet? What if we changed too much? What if he needed that push to motivate him to do all those things? What if the future is worse than what it had been?"

"Listen, I don't know you very well, but I do know quite a few people who did. And they were all willing to risk a hell of a lot to give me the opportunity to come and save your life, yours and the others. Each one was utterly convinced that the world is a better place with you in it, and that you would be important in changing the future for the better. You are needed, and I know that old Hank would trade all of his future accomplishments for even one more day with you. Old Charles, as well, and Mags- Well, he said he would rather let the world fall to the Sentinels than give up the opportunity to save you."

I let his words wash over me, and I could feel his sincerity. I also felt Erik's heat next to me, just before he settled himself in the sand at my side. "He's entirely right, you know," he told me, entwining our fingers together. "I would rather let the world fall then lose you again."

It warmed me to hear, but I wasn't entirely comfortable with them being said in front of others. "Didn't your mother ever teach you it's rude to eavesdrop?" I said, a teasing smile curling my lips.

"I must have not been listening that day," he teased back, entirely unrepentant.

"Well, if the two of you are going to be cute, I'm going to leave," Logan said. He started to stand, but I stopped him.

"Just ignore Erik. I actually wanted to talk to you about something. When we were in Vietnam, when we saw Stryker, and honestly every time his name is even mentioned, you seem to be trying not to react. How do you know him?"

Just like every other time, pain flittered across his face faster than he could rein it in. "It's in the past," he said, waving it aside like it was nothing, but I'd seen that look.

And so had Erik. "But it doesn't have to be," he said softly, thinking the same thing I was.

"Clearly, Stryker didn't recognize you," I pushed, "which can only mean it's something that happens in between now and your future. Which means it's something we can help change. Please, Logan, it's the least we can do for all you've done for us. Let us help you the way you've helped us."

Logan looked at me, almost like he was seeing me for the first time. "You would do that for me?" he finally asked, softly, nearly broken.

"Without question," I told him.

Over the next half hour, a broken jumble of a story came out, and my heart broke with each new detail. He confessed that he couldn't remember most of what he was telling us, that most of it had come from Charles secondhand. But it included a brother's betrayal, and a blackmailed lover, and a bullet that stole his memories. If it had been fiction, it would have been an epic tale, but as it was his life, it was heartbreaking.

When it was all over, I had a few more questions. "When do you meet her?"

"I think in the summer of 1972," Logan said cautiously.

"Did you love her?"

Logan shook his head sadly. "I don't know. There was her powers, and I can't even remember-"

"You know," Erik insisted, though his eyes were locked on me. "You know if you love someone. Your brain may have forgotten, but your heart cannot."

That was the most romantic thing I'd ever heard him say, but I couldn't react in the way I wanted to. Instead, I forced myself to focus on Logan. "Did you love Kayla?"

"Yes," he whispered. "Yes, I loved her."

"And Charles believed that she loved you, even with being blackmailed. We'll find a way to help you both out of Stryker's grasp," I promised.

AN: I know it's been nearly a year, and I'm so sorry! I've sort of lost my muse for this story, and I was really trying to finish my other stories that were closer to being done, so I didn't work on this one for way too long. But I'm back, and I'm going to try to finish before the end of the year. Don't quote me on that, but that's my goal. So, if anyone's still reading this, thank you, and thanks to brigid1318, APridefulSin, and guest for your lovely reviews oh so long ago. They still make my day, even now!