Dahlia sat with her back against the wall of the empty subway station. She flipped through the warped pages of the magazine Toad had read a week ago with the light of a lantern between her and him. Toad crouched in front of an electrical box that had blown out ages ago, leaving the subway station in the dark except for the various torches and lanterns they had placed to see. He had graciously offered to re-wire it for them so they could take advantage of the city's electricity again.

While the week had been otherwise uneventful, Toad seemed to finally make friends with her and shockingly, Betsy. Of course, he was sarcastic as ever, but she liked to contribute it to the stress and thought that maybe he was just the withdrawn type of person. She believed that if he were a little less stand-offish however, then maybe people would be more accepting of him.

She watched him squint at the electrical box through the goggles she'd found hanging around his neck when she first found him and wondered how well he could see in the dim light of the subway lanterns compared to her.

Her tail curled contently over her feet. The goggles magnified his already large eyes to twice the size and a small smile turned up the corners of her lips. She thought it was cute. She didn't dare tell him though, who knew what kind of irritated reaction that would bring on.

A dull ache spread through her eyes and her pupils flickered into slits briefly and unevenly before one expanded abnormally wide and not unlike a cats, soon followed by the other. Her gaze traveled from his ears down the slope of his jaw to the way his lips were set tensely pressed together.

Faint electrical scars a few shades darker than his blotchy green skin branched from his mouth and down his neck like delicate roots, disappearing into his shirt. She wondered what had caused them…If she hadn't known better from her studies she would have thought it was just a tattoo.

He glanced to her briefly and took a heavy breath; he admired the way her eyes reflected the lanterns light back to him but the way she was observing his features was setting him ill at ease.

"Not polite to stare," He grunted, breaking her trance. Dahlia's ears pricked and she darted her eyes back to her magazine.

"I can't believe all these tricks they have for coupons," Dahlia flipped the magazine around to show him a picture even though it was something he had already seen before. "I could actually go into the store to get a ton of food and not have to buy anything." Dahlia spoke quickly out of embarrassment, trying to divert the attention from her.

"I'm sure that'd be loads of help now," He replied sarcastically, "What with all the shoppin' you do."

"Oh shush," She stuck her tongue out at him. "So negative."

"Don't stick your tongue at me. If you want t'play that game with me, you'll lose." He reached over to bring the lantern closer to his work space so he could see. "Y'know, if you really didn't want to buy anythin', just grab a friend 'ere, take a store. Simple really."

Dahlia frowned a bit. "I don't condone stealing…Plus, we don't like to bring attention to ourselves, most of us won't even leave…" She trailed off, her mind running to the mutant hatred above ground with sadness.

He just gave a small shake of his head, tweaking a wire and thinking she was ridiculous. The people down here were starving and more than capable of getting the food they needed. Hell, with a little help from Magneto, Toad figured they wouldn't even have to live down here to begin with, not that this was a bad idea.

"Damn Sapiens," He spoke sullenly. "Think they're so much better than mutants when it's the opposite. We're the next step in evolution they can't accept."

Dahlia watched his bitter expression for a moment with concern and tried to think carefully how to respond. She chewed her lip in thought of the mutant in front of her, wondering what his story was that made him have such a bitter perspective. They all had a story, after all.

"I don't think either of us is really better than another. I think some people are just misguided…" She thought over the things that she had seen from the mutant and human side. Being her mutation came later in life than most she tried to have a clear view of both and hoped one day mutants and humans could live in peace. "People are always afraid of what they don't understand."

Toad remained silent and pretended to be engulfed in his work. The last thing he wanted to hear was that sapiens were just misguided and were equal with him. He'd experienced enough of them to know their intentions. They weren't afraid of what they didn't understand, they were afraid of what was better, more powerful than them.

Dahlia's ear twitched uncomfortably and she looked back down to her magazine. She wondered if he were really preoccupied or just ignoring her but brushed the thought off. If that was something he wanted to believe…Well, maybe she'd better leave him to it. It wasn't like he was some anti-human terrorist or something.

She flipped the page and a smile lit up her face again. She flipped the magazine around again to show him a pair of red stilettos and pearl earrings to go with it.

"I used to have a pair of these shoes," She pointed at the shoes on the page, "I wore them all the time in high school. They used to always ask how I could manage walking around in them all day." She gave a small laugh.

Toad only glanced at the shoes and mumbled 'that's nice,' actually engulfed in his mechanics now. Not that he would really care to hear what she said about her previously perfect, normal life anyway. He'd never even come close to something like that and the thought pained him, it was a hope he'd learned to disconnect himself from ages ago.

Dahlia couldn't help feeling a bit nostalgic, though. When they said things would be different once she got out of high school she never took them this literally. She lifted the magazine up again and pointed at some pearl earrings.

"I always wanted a pair of pearls, any pearls; we could never afford them though."

"Lovely," He leaned in closer to his work, squinting to see.

"You're not even looking!" Dahlia protested.

Toad stopped what he was doing and tilted his head back with an exasperated look, elbows rested on his knees.

"They're lovely."

Dahlia pressed her lips together to keep from grinning sheepishly like a toddler. "Sorry."

"Can I continue now? Or do I have to read along with you? I'd like to finish this," He leaned in again pulling the lantern even closer to him. "Before your friends decide I'm not worth a dime alive."

"Heeeyyy! You're taking all my light." She scooted in closer to him again. "I can't see that clearly in the dark, half these words are smudged too."

"You don't have to sit with me, you know. They have light elsewhere in this godforsaken place." He touched two wires together and they sparked. He looked up with a parted mouth when the lights overhead flickered but they went out again.

"Blast." He muttered.

"I don't want to leave you alone in the dark," She said, looking up at the lights then following the outline of a moth in the dark overhead. Toad followed her gaze in curiosity but only saw darkness. He looked back to his work, "I'm used to it."

"The dark?"

"Bein' alone."

"Oh," She seemed to deflate a bit and they sat in silence for a few moments. He almost regretted saying it, but it was true; if it made her uncomfortable and drove her away, then good riddance.

Dahlia's left ear tilted back listening to a faint mechanical hum that she could never place the cause of. She watched him work with envy. She'd always wanted to learn mechanics and electrical work, before her mutation she had planned on going to school for engineering and mechanics believe it or not. She chewed on her lip in thought, uncertain if she should ask what she was about to.

"Can you teach me?"

He stopped and looked at her with a confused scowl. "Teach y' what?"

"How you're fixing it."

He blinked, perplexed. Had he been an attractive guy he might have considered that she was trying to impress him but since that obviously wasn't the case he just looked at her. She didn't exactly give him the impression she was very bright. Bubbly? Yes. Bright? No.

"What you mean?" He looked at her suspiciously.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" She blinked back at him, furrowing her eyebrows a bit.

"Never mind then," Toad shook his head and decided to give up before he insulted her. "Come look."

Dahlia crawled to his side and peered into the electrical box. Unable to see his hands clearly she leaned her head in close to his. Her breath brushed against his ear and neck and he cursed himself when his hands started to sweat. He rubbed them on his pants, the last thing he needed was to get electrocuted again.

"You just…" He felt his heart flutter and he couldn't believe himself, groaning inwardly. It'd been a while since he had any kind of nervous reaction to a girl, probably because Mystique was the only other girl he'd been around for so long that it often skipped his mind that she was one.

The last time he'd ended up like this he'd been in his early teens and had the biggest crush on a girl named Wanda, Magneto's daughter actually. Of course, she'd rejected him miserably, calling him all sorts of terrible names about how gross he was and what not. The memory only made things worse and he felt it difficult to swallow. Was his mouth always this dry?

"I…?" Dahlia asked turning slightly to look at him, the tip of her tail twitched slowly back and forth as she tried to figure him out. She could feel the heat radiating off his skin and her sensitive ears picked up the rapid beat of his heart.

He looked to her rather slowly, his large yellow-black eyes meeting hers, causing him to feel paralyzed; her face so close he could feel her breath on his cheek.

Her heart jumped when she felt her body lean towards him a bit on a whim of its own, lips burning, and blush spread across her cheeks. He glanced down to soft lips for a moment too long and she pulled back suddenly with a quiet, sharp inhale that he almost missed.

"I see! You just…" She struggled to look for words, sounding a bit flustered. "…yeah!"

"Yeah," He looked at her dumbfounded. Was she about to kiss him? She'd leaned in. No, look how quickly she pulled away. And what was with that gasp? Terrified, he supposed.

His lips formed a thin line in self-reproach. Blast it, he was better off dead. She should have just left him to die in the bay. He took a deep breath to calm him down and silenced his thoughts before they spun out of control. After he'd almost committed suicide years ago he knew that was no place to let his mind roam.

Dahlia took in the sore expression he wore now with remorse and tried to think of a way to bridge the gap between them now.

"How did you learn to do this?"

"Taught myself." He replied shortly.

"Really?" Dahlia raised her eyebrows, trying to look more impressed that she really was, not that she wasn't impressed just that her mind still lingered on…well, you can guess.

"Yes, really."

Dahlia tilted her head a bit. "You still haven't told me much about yourself."

"I think that's hardly fair considerin' you're the one keeping me against my will."

"It's not really me,"

He took another deep breath to stifle his irritation before things got out of hand. Despite himself, he wasn't quite ready to drive her off yet.

"Tell me about yourself."

"Well…My full name is Dahlia K Fox."

"Fox?"

"Yup,"

"That's a bit ironic, isn't it?" He glanced at her ears. "Considerin' your mutation."

"Isn't it?" She laughed and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"What's the K stand for?"

"Oh, it's just K."

"Just K?" He raised an eyebrow, tweaking a wire and she nodded.

"My parents never decided on a middle name. Growing up they called me by various middle names, Kennedy, Kelly, Kentucky…nothing ever stuck."

"…I'm sorry, Kentucky?"

"Yeah…That one was short-lived."

He laughed a short, low laugh that sounded suspiciously like a mock but she gave a half-smile regardless; at least he found some kind of amusement from her.

"What else 'bout you...'ow'd y'mutation show up?"

Dahlia paused for a moment too long and he almost regretted asking, she started up quickly though and Toad couldn't help thinking she was entirely too perky at times.

"Well, when I was going to high school my ears and stuff just started changing," She paused to pick up her tail. "Eventually I had to start staying home because it became too obvious; it was a while before I actually…" She made a strange face and stroked her tail, letting strands of fur fall from her hand. "You know, got fur." She grimaced, though she knew were lucky her ears and tail were the only place fur appeared, his mutation covered his body.

He stayed silent listening to her. She said it so simply, the way it happened, like she was fine with it all even though it ended her up where she was. Maybe she was though; he would love that about her if it were true.

Mutations had their downfalls but Magneto taught him to embrace it, he'd be less without it and he didn't think he could handle being less than he already was…Of course, had he not had his mutation he never would have endured the ridicule he had his whole life.

"Eventually I just left home and ended up here…there wasn't a whole lot to it." She looked up when a voice called her name from the opposite side of the room. Looking back he could see someone was holding up a lantern but couldn't make out the face. Dahlia pushed herself up quickly, apparently recognizing the voice. "Coming! I'll be right back." She said and took off towards the light.

Toad sat in silence continuing to tweak this and that and rewire the blast thing. He took the two wires he had earlier and touched them again, this time the light came on in full force and he looked up satisfied.

His memory felt fuzzy sometimes and he blamed it on Storm. He had some hope though, that everything would come back to him eventually. He'd feel worthless if he lost his understanding of technology, it was something he was proud of and something Magneto kept him around for. It gave him worth, no doubt, even here.

He feared that if he lost his ability to handle technology well Magneto wouldn't have a need for him any longer, even with his brilliant fighting skills and assassin capabilities. There was always someone better out there and he'd already been abandoned once by his parents and taken in by Magneto. And even though the man could be considered far from a fatherly figure, he was someone Toad worked hard to please.

Dahlia walked with Annalee down the hall towards her adopted children carrying an armful of clean blankets. Dahlia didn't think it was Annalee that took them to be cleaned though, considering she rarely ever left. The thought irked her since she looked even more normal that Dahlia and could have helped pick up some of her work load.

Dahlia's ear twitched; at least the children were starting to look better now. Leech was even well enough to leave back to his own part of the tunnels.

Annalee was quiet the whole time except for when she had asked Dahlia to help her carry everything so they wouldn't get re-dirtied by the floors. Dahlia thought about asking her if she was alright but thought it might be better so leave her be, she'd been staying up every night with her children so she must have just been tired.

Betsy looked up as they approached and smiled. "Ah good, clean sheets will be good for them." Betsy took the load out of Dahlia's arms and nodded down the hall. "Where's Toad?" She asked. Over the week Toad had eventually told her to call him that instead of Mortimer.

"Fixing the lights,"

Betsy cast Dahlia a scolding look. "Why are you leaving him alone? Callisto would have your head if she found out." She jerked her head back towards where Dahlia came from. "Go babysit him before you get an earful."

Dahlia turned and hurried quickly back to where she'd left Toad. Callisto had been incredibly kind to let her into the group and she didn't want to ruin her or Toad's chances of staying there.

Dahlia looked around the subway room, delighted to see he'd gotten the lights back on though she couldn't see him anywhere and it left her uneasy. She didn't want to face Callisto if he left, she was scary.

"Hgn…Mortimer?" She asked cautiously, refusing to call him Toad no matter how much he looked like one.

She looked past the broken door to the men's bathroom, ears standing in attention to any sounds. Inside she could hear someone moving, breathing heavily. Her heart beat rapidly as her eyes scanned the room. "Mortimer…Are you okay?"

She could faintly hear someone talking under their breath as she stepped into the room cautiously. Parting her lips she breathed in trying to make out the scent, but all she could pick up was the smell of musky, molding walls and old water.

Slowly, a man stepped out from behind a stall door cracking an already broken tile underfoot, his eyes wild and confused.

"O-oh…" She said quietly, curling her tail around her leg. She recognized the man as being a mutant they had invited into their community months ago, but he had never made any real attempt to befriend any of them, keeping to himself most of the time with the exception of needing something.

He staggered closer to her. "C-can you come w-with m-me?" He asked and Dahlia took a step back with her ears turned sideways. "W-we can be safe. I can- I can protect you." He pleaded.

"I'm sorry, I must…I need to go." She turned quickly but before she could make it out of the bathroom the man grabbed her arm and started backing her into the wall all the while pleading with her.

"No! Let me go!" Dahlia screamed. Claws slid out of her finger tips and she went to swipe him across the face but he caught her other arm and pinned her against the wall.

Toad was just walking up to Betsy and Annalee when they heard Dahlia's ricochet through the tunnels. They both darted towards the tunnel that led to the abandoned subway station.

The man pressed Dahlia up to the wall and started talking in her ear. He moved both her wrists to one hand and tugged on her pants before sliding his hand under her shirt all the while Dahlia struggled against him, getting weak kneed with fear.

Toad was the first one through the bathroom doors. His tongue wrapped around the man's neck and yanked him back towards him only to kick him into the wall with such force it cracked. Betsy and Annalee were by Dahlia's side almost immediately, helping her stand.

Annalee wrapped her arms around the distraught Dahlia and stroked her hair using her emphatic powers to calm her down, so they could lead her away from the clearly one sided fight in front of them.

The man struggled to get away from Toad who was crouched over him now with bloody fist from punching him. The man cried out and Toad backed off for a moment, only letting him up long enough to kick him back down with a sickening crack of ribs.

Toad turned to kick a pipe laying on the floor up into his hand, dead set on making this man suffer. The man used the second of freedom as desperate attempt to crawl away. Toad shook his head, gleeful smirk playing on his lips.

"Oh no you don't." He muttered before entrapping the man's throat with his tongue and yanked him back. Toad stood over him and looked him in his bloody, bruised face with triumphed. He twirled the pile in his hand and smiled cockily at the man.

"Goin' somewhere, mate?" He spit a thick slime at the man's face in hope to suffocate him and watched him grasp at it frantically. Ape came running into the room ready to drag the man out after hearing about the situation.

By time Toad made his way back towards Dahlia the others had crowded around her and he had to push his way through to get to her.

"Alright!" Betsy barked the words, "Scatter! All of you! Except you!" She jabbed her finger at Toad before he could leave with the others. "Take her back to her room; I have to check Artie." Off in the back of the room Artie was half choking, half throwing up into a bucket and he spotted Annalee beside him.

Toad crouched down in front of Dahlia who had her face hidden in her knees, her hands held her head. She took a deep breath in a vain attempt to keep from shaking.

" 'ey," He said quietly, "Come on."

Dahlia only buried her face in farther and she shook her head.

"No," She said and took another shuddered breath trying to keep back tears.

Toad looked down at her shirt; it had been partially ripped down the front. He pulled his jacket off and helped her into it. When he asked again for her to come and she didn't respond he scooped her up over his shoulder and started taking her towards the subway, leaving her to partially hang off his back looking both sad and confused.

As he walked back towards the subway station he'd let Dahlia slide from his shoulder into his arms bridal style and she clung to his neck tightly and buried her face in his shoulder. Even after he'd set her down she was reluctant to let go.

He couldn't fathom what had honestly caused her to touch him so willingly; he contributed it to the shock with some disappointment he wouldn't admit to himself. He wished he had been there to see that man to his death with the sudden swell of protectiveness he felt, looking down at the girl in shambles before him, Ape had taken over the situation though.

Little bastard…should 'ave done him in. Toad thought angrily as Jinx came in from behind the other curtain and eyed the two with what almost looked like concern.

"What's her problem?" Jinx sneered, fixing one of her earrings in preparation for going out that night, wherever she went.

"She was attacked. If you're goin' to be an arse get out of 'ere." Toad snapped and jerked his head towards the exit. Dahlia clutched to his shirt, wide eyes worrying for Jinx's feelings despite the fact that Jinx obviously didn't care for hers.

Jinx widened her eyes in mock exaggeration. "Sorry I asked, gosh." She grabbed her purse and walked out.

Toad took a seat beside her on her bed and watched her bury her face in her knees again. He reached out to stroke her hair softly but hesitated before pulling his hand back, not the slightest bit sure how to comfort her or anyone for that matter. Magneto sure as hell never offered any sympathy to him.

"You okay, love?"

"What's the point of this mutation if I can't even protect myself with it? It doesn't even work half the time."

Toad felt lost at the desperation in her voice and found himself wondering what she meant.

"Hey now, he caught you off guard is all." He tried to convince her, but there was no real way around the fact that she wasn't the most physically adept person there was.

Growing up outside the orphanage at such a young age he had been lucky to pick up on the skills necessary to fight, as well as the mutation he had of his own. Hell, even living in the orphanage he'd learned a thing or two defending himself from those little bastards.

He tried to place himself in her shoes where she'd recently come into a world very different from her own but found he couldn't really do it. He just felt pity for her.

Dahlia didn't reply. It was always like this, other people were always saving her. When would she be able to save herself? All her mutation had ever been to her was a curse, locking her in a dangerous world with nothing to protect herself with.

Toad looked away and shifted uncomfortably. He thought that maybe he should say something else but figured if she wanted to talk she would. She took comfort in the fact he was there at all, he'd saved her and in turn it made her feel like he'd protect her. Mutants always seemed to be there for her more than her normal friends had.

A long time ago she had hated mutants just as much as a majority of the population. She had feared them, but now she understood to be kind, that people were more than your fears. Tears started to well up in her eyes again. She understood that everyone deserved a chance or two and that time changed everything.