Dahlia walked into the room Toad resided in and smiled seeing him sitting up and flipping through an old magazine. She noticed that the various medical equipment that had been by his bed last night wasn't there anymore. He looked up as she approached and bit into an apple.

"G'morning!" She chimed brightly with a grin that made him inclined to scowl at her. "How did you sleep?"

"Like I was in a coma," He grunted, taking another bite. Dahlia sat beside his mattress, either too dense to pick up on his sarcasm or flat out ignoring it.

"You seem to be doing well! I'm really glad!" She bobbed side to side slightly. "We were going to throw you in the snow if you didn't wake up soon!"

He gaped at her for a moment. "Wonderful. Where'r m'clothes?"

"They're in my room; I stuffed them under my bed so I wouldn't lose them." She glanced down at his chest for a moment before snapping her eyes back up to his. He continued to scowl at her. "I can get them if you like; I washed them a while ago." She didn't mention it was because they totally reeked.

"Don't look at me like that." She pouted. "Your face will get stuck like that."

"S'pose it's already set?" He countered. "When can I leave?"

"Uhmm…Well…not for a bit…" She pressed the ends of her fingers together before jerking her hand back and shaking it like she'd been hurt. She paused with widened eyes at the look of anger building on his face. She pulled back quickly and jumped up.

"What're you plannin' on doin' with me?" He demanded then fell silent when Betsy approached, throwing an arm around Dahlia.

"We don't plan on doing anything with you, Mr. Mortimer." She narrowed her eyes at him "But we don't trust you."

"I d—" Betsy cupped a hand over Dahlia's mouth and she wrestled with her scaly hand. "Ah, yes Dahlia. You trust everyone, we're quite aware of that."

"So what's that mean for me? Jus' gonna keep me 'ere for how long?" He pushed to sit up all the way but winced at the painful tingling that shot up his spine and down his legs.

"Give it a couple of weeks, maybe less." Betsy shrugged carelessly, "If we trust you, we'll let you go. Besides, you don't honestly think you'll make it out there on your own at this time, do you?" She smirked, seeing the flicker of a pained expression on his face.

"And s'pose you don't?" He eased himself back down. A muscle in his leg clenched itself tightly and he had to press his teeth together to stop himself from reacting. "Then what?"

Betsy gave him a smile that, when countered with the pain he was already in, made him want to knock her teeth out.

"Well if you give us no reason not to trust you, then you don't have to worry about that, now will you?" She let Dahlia go and started to walk away.

"If you don't?" He repeated to Dahlia and she shifted uncomfortably under his glare.

"I don't know," She said nervously, a bit too quickly and plopped back down on the floor next to him to take his hand. "Don't worry though! There's no reason they shouldn't trust you."

Dahlia did know full well what they would do though; if they found a reason not to trust him they would kill him. The idea made her heart sink; this world was so very difference from the one she came from. The people here appeared to be a step away from savages sometimes but she knew it was just the cost they paid to survive and keep their members safe.

When he didn't answer right away she stared, following his gaze to her hand on his. She let his hand go promptly and he immediately thought she was disgusted. He glared down at his magazine bitterly and opened it so he could direct his attention elsewhere.

Of course, wouldn't want to touch warty Morty, now would we? He thought bitterly, that's what they'd called him back at the orphanage.

"You're a bad liar, sweetheart." His bitterness made its way into his voice and came off harsher than he intended.

"We're not trying to hurt you…You know." She looked down forlornly and didn't seem intent on speaking after that.

He regretted himself with a sinking feeling. Annoying ball of sunshine or not, it felt wrong to snuff out her little flame. It made him reconsider how he'd been acting. Obviously neither Magneto nor Mystique had planned on pulling him from the water and if they really had been tending to him for such a long time…Well, maybe she was telling the truth. The thought warmed him a bit but he wouldn't let himself fall prey to the idea that somebody would care for him with nothing to gain. Instead he set himself on getting to know his "captors."

" How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen. I turn twenty in December…" She glanced up at him a bit curiously.

He felt pleasantly surprised to find out her age; at least it made him a little bit less of a perv, right? He smirked, like he cared. "Sagittarius?"

She shook her head. "Capricorn."

"Ah," He looked down at his magazine fixedly and Dahlia thought he was finding the "How to Impress Your Man" section a bit too intriguing; unless, of course, he was into that kind of thing. "When's y'birthday?"

"The twenty-fifth." The tip of her tail twitched side to side slowly in curiosity. Why the sudden change? "I was born on Christmas."

"Must a been a sterlin' gift for y'mum, huh?" He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. No body honestly ended up where they were without losing contact with family, normally in a terrible way. He glared at his magazine with cheeks burning, despising himself.

Dahlia seemed to pick up on the way he tensed and smiled encouragingly then leaned forward a bit. He's head snapped up, startled by her movement. She nodded in hope to cure whatever embarrassment he felt; she really hated to see people uncomfortable, especially around her.

"Mhm, she was very happy. She always wanted a girl." She changed the topic quickly though. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-seven."

"Oh? That's my friend Jinx's age! I think…wait…" She lit up brightly then stopped to ponder it with furrowed brows. "Actually, I think she might be twenty-two….or twenty-one…"

"…That's a tad bit a ways from twenty-seven, love." She was one step off her rocker, that was for certain. "Goin' somewhere?" He nodded at the wide fabric headband and floor length black skirt that hid her ears and tail.

"I'm supposed to go looking for food today…I'd ask you to come…but.." She bit her lip and her face fell again. "I'm really sorry."

"S'okay, I'll manage." He tried to bite back the harsh tone he always carried. "S'not like I'd get very far."

"I'll get some great food this time for sure!" She said, lighting up with a smile. He felt more relieved than he should have to see her back to herself.

"I bet you will," He said airily and looked over her tiny body; it was obvious she hadn't been eating much. "You'll be alright out there? On your own, I mean."

She blinked. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She seemed somewhat insulted.

"Well, You're a stick."

"I'll be fine!" She huffed.

"Say's th' scrawny thing in fronta me."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh please."

"Well alright then, little miss teenager. Why don't you take your rolling eyes and pull me off a blanket from that bed over there." He nodded to the uninhabited mattress behind her. "Bloody cold in 'ere if you ask me."

Dahlia complied eagerly and tossed the blanket over him before he could say anything else. "Oh shush, you sound like my dad."

"Now, sweetheart, I'm only 'round what? Seven, maybe eight years older than you? That's hardly fair." Dahlia laughed and he felt an unwelcome swell of pride that he'd made her laugh. It had been a while since he had a conversation like this. One that didn't center around work or mutant affairs…One that was just friendly.

"You should meet my friend Jinx when you get a chance. We share a room together, did I say that already? I don't remember." She hesitated; she really needed to get a move on to look for food but wanted to stay and talk to him.

"Is that so?" He said and laid back on the bed with his arms propping up his head.

She had a slight glare in her eyes. "You're not even listening."

"Well, S'not my fault y'talk so much." He said with closed eyes and a yawn. He opened an eye slightly when she didn't respond. "S'a joke." He told her and she just glowered at him. He got the feeling it wasn't a real mean expression though. Emotions flinted across her face constantly and almost always seemed exaggerated.

"Ass," She mumbled and he looked at her sideways.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Nothing," She bit back a guilty smile and jumped up. "I gotta go get food! See you!"

"Bring me back a shirt, will you?" He called out but she had already turned the corner. "Or not…" He muttered to himself and turned back to his girly magazine.

It was an issue from years ago and had a lot of weird articles about fall fashion and coupon clipping. He closed it again and tossed it to the side, throwing an arm over his eyes. He really wished they would have given him something less girly to read, fashion and coupon clipping weren't really in his book of interesting topics.

He rested for a bit and let his mind trail over their conversation. As much as he was suspicious of her, he was drawn to her friendliness. Looking out into the room most people had moved out, the virus apparently clearing up. Now all that was left was a man that had been asleep since he'd gotten there and a few kids and an old woman who didn't look particularly sick but seemed to hang around and care for them.

Running a hand through his spikey, short hair, he stretched his legs out slowly; they felt like they had fallen asleep for too long, only the feeling hadn't left his legs since he woke up. Betsy had been kind enough to help get him to his feet earlier, but he only managed a few steps before it became unbearable, like walking with bits of glass embedded in his leg.

He expected to be doing better than this; he'd never taken long to heal at all. He had considered it to be part of his mutation. It had already been six months in coma…he wondered how badly off he really was and how much he would actually recover.

The air was crisp and the sharp wind that swept down the alley way stung her eyes when she first climbed out into the open. She closed the manhole quickly behind her and made sure the coast was clear before she wandered out into the open. An old fabric grocery bag hung from her shoulder. Her first task would be to find something to eat, since it was the most important.

She made her way towards the back of an organic store and pushed open the lid to look for food. She rummaged around till she found a tied up grocery bag with fruit that had been tossed she assumed from not meeting the stores size requirement for the fruit they sold. She grimaced, trying to avoid the left over lunch that had been tossed from the previous day.

"When we learned about Freeganism in school I never thought I'd be doing it…" She said aloud to herself and smiled at the man who was taking out a bag of trash. He saw her every now and then; from his name tag she knew his name was Scott. He smiled at her, nodded his greetings and fixed the sunglasses he always wore.

He was actually a huge help to her, sometimes smuggling food out of the store such as sardines or crackers for her to take home, she'd gotten him to stop in fear he would lose his job though. Sometimes he even gave her money and had offered her a place to stay a few times, but that had been after she'd met the Morlocks and she didn't quite know this boy well enough. She ended up telling him she had found a place to stay.

"Doing all right?" He asked. He really did have a charming smile.

"Better than ever." She said and he dropped the trash bag he was hauling to the dumpster. "And yourself?"

"Great." He placed his fists on his hips and nodded at the bag she held in her hands. "I figured you might come around soon," He walked to the side of the dumpster and pulled out a paper bag. "Made some of the sandwiches wrong this morning, mixed the gluten bread with the gluten-free." He shrugged, "Glad I caught it, would have been terrible if someone got a hold of it. Thought I'd hide it in case you came by though."

Dahlia took the bag and restrained herself from looking in it hungrily. "Thank you! I'm glad you thought of me."

Scott smiled back and picked the trash bag up again and slung it over his shoulder. "No problem, don't go through this one though, it's nothing you'd want to eat."

"Okay." Dahlia nodded her understanding with the sweetest smile she could muster up.

"Well, see you." He gave a small wave and another charming smile and threw the bag into the dumpster.

"See you." She smiled back and bit her lip to keep from smiling too broadly. She reminded herself that she was a mutant, he wasn't. It was exciting to have him help her but she knew it was best to keep her distance.

The cold wrapped around her toes even from through the sneakers she wore and she regretted not listening to Mortimer's sock suggestion. She'd been barefooted at the time though, so she hadn't really considered it when she put sneakers on.

The city was always busy regardless of what part you were in. The act of being around so many new people after staying underground for so long always liberated her. Back in high school she had been a social butterfly. She was the class president and in all sorts of clubs as well as top of her class. She thrived off people and she still did. She smiled at the woman who she walked by watering her flowers. She only glowered back. That was the downside to the city; people weren't always the friendliest, even if you were.

Ding. Her ears pricked from under her head band when the doorbell to the store she entered went off. She fixed her headband in the nervous thought that her ears might become visible. The store employee eyed her old bag with suspicion for a moment but went back to her magazine when Dahlia smiled at her. Honestly, if people were just friendlier, that would open up all sorts of opportunities for them and people would be friendly back. At least that was Dahlia's belief, maybe it was true, maybe it wasn't, she had always been a rather naïve person though. Trusted people too much, but in return people trusted her.

Dahlia walked to the electronics in the back, nothing but a small section of batteries, headphones, audio cables and cheap phone chargers were present. She picked up a pack and, positioning herself so the security camera couldn't see her, she tore it open and emptied the contents into her back. She took another and did the same just to make sure they would be set for another few months.

Most of the time Jinx wasn't even home at night and Dahlia didn't need the lantern. Dahlia didn't have the slightest idea where she went but she always came back before sun rise. Her roommate was a very secretive person but she respected that.

Scott kicked his feet up on the coffee table once he was back at home in the Xavier mansion and turned the TV on. The news raged on about the controversial issue of if mutant students should be allowed into the school system or not. He shook his head as Jean walked in and leaned against the wall.

"I can't believe they're still going on about this crap." He said angrily and flipped the station.

"You know how the media is; they like to milk a story for everything its worth."

About a month ago a mutant student who had been picked on for years finally cracked and burned the side of his bullies face. He could have gone the rest of his life and nobody would have ever known about his mutation if that incident hadn't happened. The news went on, and on, and on, and on about it and the constant updates for his trial and what officials were going to do and how the investigator was going.
Scott knew, and the professor knew, and they all knew that the student had only defended himself, but the news would never let on to that and it would never let on that he was bullied and threatened constantly. That's just how things were for them now.

He shook his head angrily, wishing they had gotten to the boy before the police did, maybe they could have helped him.

Jean placed her hands on his shoulders and gave him a short massage. "You're tense, boss still giving you problems?"

"Yeah, it was my fault today though. I got the gluten bread mixed up with the non-gluten."

"That's not good."

"Tell me about it, almost got fired." He placed his hands over his face with a groan.

"Maybe you should suck up to her a bit. You're cute; use some of your charm." She teased.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." He laughed and rubbed his eyebrows. "Not only that, there is this girl that keeps stopping by and pulling food out of the dumpster. She comes by all the time, I think she's a mutant."

"What makes you think that?"

He leaned back into the sofa and stared long and hard at the TV.

"Just a feeling, I guess you could say, something's just not normal about her. I wanted to talk to professor about it, she said she has a place to stay but it looks like she's starving."

"Maybe you should talk to professor then, it couldn't hurt."

"Yeah, you're right."

Jean placed a hand on his head before starting to head back out. "Dinner is ready by the way if you feel up for eating." She said over her shoulder.

"Alright, thanks. I'll be there in a second."

Toad was up and walking now, slowly and with frequent, painful breaks, but walking none the less. It had been three days now since he'd first woken up and was already starting to see some improvements, though not many.

Dahlia left around nine or ten that morning, he couldn't really recall, his mind still felt fuzzy. He found himself worrying about her with some remorse; it was well past eight now. He cursed himself for concerning himself with this girl; she was just some dimwit blond who'd….well, saved his life. Toad pulled the corner of his mouth up in annoyance. Okay, yeah, he had to give her some credit for that.

Though he was both surprised and relieved that the people here were letting him roam around, he felt uneasy at how closely they watched him. He snorted. They probably only let him walk around in the first place because he could hardly walk, wasn't like he was running off any time soon.

He had yet to really meet anyone else except for one guy down where they kept all the other sick people. Most the others kept away from him. They'd played cards together for a while before he'd eventually asked if Toad wanted help getting back on his feet. He'd denied the help but regretted it later when he struggled to pick himself up and go look for Dahlia.

He leaned against a wall feeling more than exhausted and let himself slid to the floor. He should have just stayed with card man. His legs throbbed with pain mercilessly and his head pounded along with them. He cursed Storm and everything she was. Oh, if she gave him permanent nerve damage from zapping him like she did, he'd kill her.

" 'Ey you, blue girl" He called to a girl with blue skin as she walked the opposite side of the corridor from him. What was with all the bloody, blue mutants? It seemed to be evolution's color of choice. It was an obnoxiously over powering color compared to normal skin but he wished for it instead of the green, blotchy skin he had now.

Jinx looked him over with apparent disgust and he clenched his teeth. He almost spat some nasty comments at her but decided it was best to keep his mouth shut in case she was part of the committee that decided if he lived or not. But then she spoke.

"Gross, what are you supposed to be, the jolly green giant?"

He gave her the meanest expression he could sum up. "Freak of nature yourself sweetheart. Dahlia, y'know her?"

"Why wouldn't I? She's been here for like what, two years?"

"Wonderful, spare me the chitchat. See 'er recently?"

"Not since this morning," She shrugged carelessly and folded her arms. "Maybe she got kidnapped. She's pretty stupid."

Toad clenched his teeth even harder and pushed himself up off the floor. "Thanks f'the bloody help." He said sarcastically and limped away.

He followed the sound of Betsy's voice coming from around the corner. He was met with a large hole in the wall that opened up into what looked like an abandoned subway station lit dimly by torches and the occasional lantern.

"What did I tell you? You're too damn trusting of people; you're going to get yourself killed."

Dahlia sat on the floor with Betsy looking at the bruise that spread across her left cheek and a swell of protectiveness hit him.

"I'm fiiinneeeeee." Dahlia whined and pouted when she seen Toad walk in. She was happy he was up and walking now but at the moment she was far too annoyed at being babied to show it. "I scared him off when he saw I was a mutant; he didn't even get away with anything!" She pulled some food out of her bag. "Look! I even got sandwiches this time."

Betsy sighed in exasperation and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Wot 'appened to y'face?" Toad asked and crouched down in front of her like was his normal though his legs screamed their protest. He took her face in his hand suddenly and turned her head to look at the damage.

"Just some guy on the street…" She said through smooshed lips the way he held her face. "Lemmeh go."

Toad squinted at the bruise, noticing there were small cuts in it. "The bloody hell he hit you with?!"

"His fist…he had a lot of rings on. I'm fine though!"

I'll kill 'em, Toad thought, glowering at her face in a way that made her shift uneasily.

"How are you fine? You're a step 'way from losin' a bloody eye!"

"I am not! I fought him off! He just caught me off guard." She protested, slapping his hand away so she didn't have to stay looking like a fish.

Toad opened his mouth to argue with her when Betsy put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't argue with her Mr. Mortimer, when she's got her mind set, she's got her mind set."

He cringed inwardly when she called him Mortimer instead of Toad. He shrugged her hand off and she wiped her hand off on her pants.

"Ah, you're stubborn, so that's it."

"I am not stubborn!" She puffed up and he gave a short, almost mocking laugh.

"You are stubborn, listen to you!"

"Ugh," Dahlia rolled her eyes and gave up.

"Oh, don't be such a teenager." He clicked his tongue and chuckled, getting a kick out of her frustration.

"I'm almost twenty!"

"Twenty-twenty-one my arse, tha's practically still teen years, love."

"You're not even that old!" She pouted and turned her face from him angrily.

"Wha'?" He sneered at her; she was behaving like a little girl. He cocked his head to the side. "Not even a lil'bit happy I'm walkin' now?" Much to his pleasure he heard Betsy's low laugh behind him, obviously finding her behavior as humorous as he was.

"Ugh, I'm glad to see you're walking…" She said reluctantly.

"There now, wasn't so bad, was it?" He smirked and she couldn't keep from smiling at him. He was kind of charming, wasn't he? You know, if you got past the green skin and…well, everything…Maybe it was because he was British, even if his accent was rather rough, not so proper and refined like she would imagine say, royalty.

They looked at each other happily for a moment before Betsy cleared her throat. Toad's smile vanished quickly.

"Dahlia, don't you think Leech and some of Annalee's other children might like some of that?" She nodded at the bag of food Dahlia had beside her.

"Oh! Right!" She picked up the bag and hurried away, leaving Toad to watch her leave with self-reproach; He enjoyed the encounter way more than he should have.

"Mr. Mortimer," Betsy took a few steps towards the entrance and turned to face him. "I don't know what your intentions with Dahlia are, but I'll have you know, we're very protective of our family here and Dahlia is like a daughter to me. Tread lightly."

"Y'aven't got nothin' to worry 'bout." He mumbled, standing up slowly from pain. "Don't even need t'bother."

Betsy watched him closely as he walked towards the exit of the room to follow Dahlia. She took a deep, wary breath. In many ways she viewed Dahlia like a daughter, when her mutations started showing up so late in life she had been driven away from her career and family, leaving behind three girls of her own. Her heart ached for them every day and she wished she could protect them like she did Dahlia. Dahlia might have been close to twenty and very well capable of making her own decisions in life, but she knew that she still had the naïve perspective of the world that only came with youth.