A/N—Well, we finally get something from Eva's point of view! Might be a little sad, so I apologize.

Storm and Eva walked down the hall, Storm chatting to fill the silence as they went along. Eva tuned out most of what she said as her brow furrowed.

Eva suddenly stopped, looking over her shoulder back down the hall. When Storm realized that Eva wasn't following, she stopped and walked back to her friend.

"Eva? Is something wrong?" Storm asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"Something is wrong with James. He won't tell me what." Eva frowned, looking down at her feet.

"Maybe he doesn't want to trouble you with it." Storm suggested.

"It's not like that. He's been acting strangely for the past few weeks."

"How so?"

"I don't think you want to hear."

"If you need to get it off your chest, I'll bear it." Storm smiled.

Eva sighed before she began to walk again. "Usually, Logan's…appetite…is even more than mine. He can't keep his hands off of me when we're alone most days. But now, whenever I try to initiate anything, he always stops it. He never does that."

"You were right. I didn't want to hear that." Storm shuddered, a frown on her face.

"Told you so. But even then, whenever I mention something that we've done, he has a confused look on his face. Like he can't remember…" Eva trailed, not even wanting to say it out loud.

"Can't remember what, Eva?" Storm asked.

"Like he can't remember anything about me. How we met, how we started dating, like he can't remember our entire relationship." Eva whispered.

"I doubt that, Eva. Logan loves you." Storm assured her, grabbing her by the upper arms and looking at her.

Eva averted her gaze and gently broke free of Storm's grip, walking ahead. "I don't know, Storm. It's like he can't even remember that. That morning, when he woke up late, he looked at me like I was a stranger." Eva wrapped her arms around herself, squeezing her eyes shut as she came closer to Professor X's office. A heavy feeling came over Eva's heart as she remembered the look on James' face. It was an ache, but not a good ache. It was as if someone had a hold of her heart and was squeezing it, filling her with despair until finally her heart shattered. James meant more to Eva than anything in the world. He was all she had, the one who truly understood what she felt. If she lost him…

"Everything will be fine." Storm told her as they reached the Professor's office. She rested a hand on Eva's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile before walking away.

Eva sighed and knocked on the door, entering when the Professor called her in.

"You wanted to see me?" She asked, sitting down in front of his desk.

"Yes, I need to ask you a favor." Professor X said, resting his chin on his hands.

"What kind of favor?" Eva asked warily, leaning away from him slightly. One of the 'favors' Professor X had her do ended her up in jail for three days with a prospective student. The only reason someone had realized something was wrong when she hadn't shown up for class the following Monday.

"I need help with the young girl. Lyla. She's refusing to speak to me or Jean. Anyone, for that matter. I think she might be willing to speak to you."

"Me? Why me?"

"She seemed very distraught when she hurt you. I think that if you speak to her and tell her it was just an accident that she'll open up."

"If you think it will help, then I will." Eva stood, sensing that the conversation was over.

"Thank you, Eva. She's in her room." He said, looking at some papers on his desk.

"Wait, you want me to talk to her right now?"

"Would you?"

Eva sighed, nodding as she pinched the bridge of my nose.

"You have something else on your mind." He stated.

"Nothing for you to worry about." Eva assured him, walking out of the office and putting up a mental block so he couldn't see what was actually wrong.

Eva released a breath she didn't know she was holding in when she was outside the office and the door had closed behind her.

Taking a deep breath, Eva climbed the stairs and reached Lyla's room, lingering outside, her hand casting a shadow as it hovered in front of the door. She knocked three times, dropping her hand and waiting for an answer.

She heard small footsteps coming towards the door, taking another deep breath before the door swung open to reveal a small, dark-skinned girl with curly brown hair. Lyla's deep brown eyes widened as she recognized Eva, a look of fear crossing her face.

"Am I in trouble?" She asked quickly.

"No, you're not." Eva told her, giving her a smile. "Can I come in? I wanted to talk to you."

Lyla hesitated for a moment before nodding, opening the door even wider and stepping aside so Eva could come in.

Eva thanked her and stepped inside, doing a quick onceover of the room. It was tidy, almost obsessively so. She didn't have anything that stood out to claim the room as her own. Most students had posters or other mementos decorating their room, but the only thing Eva could see was a ratty stuffed bunny sitting on the bed with half of one ear torn off and an eye missing, its fur matted from being loved for so long.

"Where would you like me to sit?" Eva asked Lyla, turning to her small host as the door closed.

Lyla wrung her hands, keeping her gaze fixed at her feet as she shrugged.

"May I sit at the desk?"

Lyla nodded, still not making eye contact with Eva.

As Eva sat down, she watched Lyla. She still hadn't moved from her position, not even looking up once Eva was sitting down.

"You're not in trouble, Lyla. I just wanted to come up here so I could talk to you." Eva assured her.

"I'm sorry." Lyla blurted out suddenly, her head shooting up. Her eyes were fixed on Eva's, and Eva could see tears in them. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I got scared. I didn't want you to take me away."

"Take you away where?" Eva questioned.

"To the institution. The orphanage kept threatening to tell the doctors I was crazy so that they'd send me away." Lyla whispered.

"Sit down, Lyla." Eva told her, leaning forward to rest her forearms on her knees.

Lyla complied, sitting at the edge of the bed near Eva, directing her eyes back towards her feet.

"I don't blame you at all for hurting me. I knew it was an accident the moment it happened." Eva said calmly.

Lyla looked up at her. "Really?"

Eva nodded. "I can't tell you how many times I accidentally hurt someone as I was trying to learn to control my powers. You shouldn't feel bad about it. It was an accident. It's part of the learning process. Professor X and all the teachers here can teach you how to control your power so you don't hurt anyone accidentally."

"Do you have powers like me?" Lyla asked.

"I don't think I do. But I can make things move with my mind. Mr. LeBeau has powers like yours. They're just a little different, but it's the same type."

"What are your powers?"

"I can control things with my mind and I heal very quickly." Eva explained, leaving out the more terrifying parts of my powers.

"How quickly? Can you show me?" Lyla seemed excited.

"Well, you only hurt me yesterday. And I'm on my feet now with no pain. For a normal person it would have taken weeks for them to even start walking with crutches. Maybe someday you'll get to see how fast I can heal."

"That big man is mad at me for hurting you." Lyla murmured.

"What big man?" I frowned.

"The one with the hair on the sides of his face."

"He's not mad at you. He was mad at another person. That man is my husband."

"He was yelling a lot."

"He just doesn't like it when I get hurt. He gets mad at me sometimes when I'm not careful and I hurt myself." I told her.

"So no one is mad?" She asked.

"No one is mad at you. We're just worried if you're doing okay. You haven't spoken since you've gotten here. We want to help you as much as we can."

"How can you help me?"

"Well, we can teach you how to control your powers. Then you won't hurt anyone accidentally. And you'll be able to go to classes like at a normal school."

"I'd like that." She whispered.

"Then we should go talk to the Professor and tell him that you're ready for training." Eva said, standing. She stood with me, and we walked out side by side. She still looked a little nervous, so Eva put an arm around her shoulders to reassure her. Lyla jumped slightly, looking up at the older mutant.

"It's going to be okay." Eva promised her, leading her to the Professor's office, knocking on the door when we got there.

Lyla grabbed Eva's arm around her shoulder as the Professor called her to come in.

"He's going to love you." Eva told her. "Just take a deep breath."

She did as she was told and walked inside, casting a glance over her shoulder before the door shut behind her.

Eva sighed, turning to go up the stairs to go to bed. Today had been too long, and she didn't feel like talking to anyone. Eva felt one of her "phases" coming on, as James put it. She could go for days on end without talking to anyone, and never feeling the need to talk to anyone. She would teach her classes and answer direct questions, but that was it. It was usually in these silent spells that Eva got the most work done. If someone wanted to talk to her during that time, they usually went through James. Everyone knew during these "phases" she would only speak more than one word answers to him. But now, she felt like she couldn't even talk to him.

When she got to their door, she lingered outside, debating whether or not she should go in or not. Deciding against it, she walked past, mounting the stairs up to the dusty attic and locking the door behind her. She absorbed herself in her books, wrote more tests for her classes, and practiced her knife throwing on a picture of Jean. When she finished her book, wrote the last question for her last test, and lost interest in destroying Jean Gray's face, she laid on the floor, staring up at the rafters of the old house. Her mind was racing. What was wrong with James? Everything had been fine just a few weeks ago, then one morning, he wakes up and acts like he can't even remember her.

Eva sighed and stood, walking over to her desk. She opened one of the top drawers, pulling out a cigar, cutting one end before lighting the other, taking a deep drag. She held the smoke in for as long as she could before letting it out through her nose. She didn't usually smoke. It was only when she was stressed. Her usual pack of 'stress cigarettes', as James fondly called them, were hidden in her underwear drawer. James was probably still in their bedroom, and she didn't feel particularly keen on seeing him when she felt like this. Cigars would have to do for now. She had to send her pipe out to get it fixed, and her tobacco had gone stale just a few days before that.

The door to the attic opened and Eva could hear someone with a light gait coming up the wooden stairs. She opened one of the windows and sat down in her desk chair, propping her feet up on the desk as she brought the cigar back up to her lips.

Eva could tell who it was after her visitor finally made it onto the actual floor. "What do you want, Klaus?" She sighed, blowing smoke at the ceiling.

"You said you wanted to go to mass for Holy Week. It starts in an hour." He said. Eva wasn't facing him so she couldn't see his face, but she could tell that it wasn't a pleasant one. He didn't like it when she smoked. Something about defiling the temple of God. She always pointed out that she couldn't do anything to her body that it wouldn't fix itself. He wasn't convinced.

"Crap, you're right. Are the kids ready?" She asked, grinding her cigar into the ashtray on her desk.

"They're waiting in the front hall."

"I'll be right there. Give me a few minutes."

A pair of feet came thundering up the stairs. She and Kurt turned at the both some to see Hank, looking thoroughly shocked about something.

"What's wrong?" Eva asked, standing from her chair.

"You need to come downstairs. Now." Hank said simply, giving her a look before walking back downstairs.

Eva and Kurt exchanged their own look before walking downstairs, following him into the TV room where C-SPAN was playing on the big screen. The entire team was assembled in the living room, staring at the television intently.

"What's going on?" Eva questioned, automatically standing next to James and crossing her arms.

"Something about a bill proposed in the Senate." He answered, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her to him.

"In other news, a bill today was proposed in the Senate concerning the education of the growing number of mutant children in the United States. The bill proposes government institutions where mutant children will be educated until the age of twenty-one, until they are fully matured. This bill will attempt to deal with the problem of dangerous members of the mutant population, hopefully bringing the amount of mutant crimes down within the next few decades. The budget to build and maintain such schools will be taken from the defense budget. These schools will be under joint control of the Department of Defense and the Department of Education, reporting directly to their respective leaders, with reports being sent to both the President and the leaders of both houses of Congress." The female reporter announced.

The entire team stared on in shock as the female reporter droned on.

"We need to go to the Capitol now." Hank announced, breaking the silence after a few minutes. "Someone get Jason on the phone. Jean, call Fiona and John. Ask them what they're doing to combat this."

"What's going on?" One of the older students asked, walking into the room. Eva thought her name was Ashley. She was one of Logan's students.

"Nothing to be worried about." Hank said quickly. "Go back to your studies, Ashley."

She frowned and crossed her arms, but walked out of the room.

"Who would even propose a bill like this?" Rogue demanded as Eva sat down next to her.

"The bill was proposed by Senator Tyler Malone, a longtime defender of mutant rights. The bill he proposed comes out of left field for several members of both houses, surprised by the strict nature of the bill and how it takes away many rights granted to the mutant population of the United States." The reporter said.

Eva went numb as she heard the name. Tyler. It couldn't be Tyler. It wasn't. He would never do something like that.

"Who is Tyler Malone?" Professor asked.

"He's not a mutant. Apparently he knew a mutant when he was younger and it affected him enough to work for mutant rights." Jean told him.

"Not anymore, apparently." Gambit grumbled.

Eva stood, walking out of the room and ignoring the team's calls to come back, mounting the stairs silently.

Eva heard someone come running up behind her, grabbing her hand to halt her ascent. She paused, her foot on the step above her. She could tell the hand on her wrist was James'. She knew his touch by heart.

James turned Eva around gently, resting his hands on her upper arms. "There has to be some kind of mistake." He murmured, pulling her towards him.

"No. There wasn't. I know that wasn't a mistake." Eva whispered, pulling away from him. "I need to pack." She told him, walking up to their room. Eva could hear James following her, quietly helping her pack when she pulled out a suitcase.

"Do you know how long you'll be there?" He finally asked.

"Probably until this session of Congress ends." She answered, looking up at him. "Can you get me my makeup bag in the bathroom?"

As he disappeared into the bathroom, Eva put her head in her hands, taking several shaking breaths until she felt a pair of strong hands on her shoulders, gently kneading them. She automatically leaned back and rested against James's chest. "What did I do wrong?" She whispered, removing her hands from her face and craning her neck to look at him.

"You didn't do anything wrong. Something must have happened that he didn't tell you about." He told her, wrapping his arms around her. A sudden knock on the door made them both start, their heads snapping towards the door.

"Who is it?" Eva called, moving out of Logan's arms towards the door.

"It's Avery." A girl's voice called back.

Eva opened the door and rested a hand on her hip. "Avery. What can I do for you?" She asked, looking at her student.

"It's Driver's Ed tonight. We heard something about you having to leave, and I wanted to ask you myself."

"Crap, I forgot. I'm sorry, Avery. I have to leave for D.C. tonight."

"A few of us were watching C-SPAN on our phones." Avery said quietly.

"You don't have anything to worry about. We'll sort it out. I promise." Eva assured the girl, resting a hand on her shoulder. Avery nodded before bidding both of them good night and leaving.

Eva closed the door, turning back to James with a sigh. "Can't we just have an uneventful few years where the only thing we have to worry about is the students?" Eva grumbled as she packed a few more sets of clothing and the last few items she needed for the trip.

"That would be boring and you know it." James told her.

"Well, maybe the occasional threat that didn't involve having to play politics yet again."

"I'm coming with you all." Logan said, going into their closet.

"Really?" Eva asked as he emerged with a duffel bag in hand.

"Yeah. I don't want to be away from you for that long." He said, smiling at her.

She smiled back at him before she looked down, her smile falling when she remembered what had been going on the past few weeks. There was something wrong with him, and if she asked, she was sure he would deny it. Whenever she even hinted at it, he would always change the subject. What was he lying to her about? They never lied to each other.

"What's wrong?" He asked, making her look up. He frowned as he looked at her.

"Just worried." She said cryptically, thankful that someone knocked on the door at that moment. "Come in." She called, not caring who it was.

Storm entered the room, keeping her hand on the doorknob as she poked her head into the room. "Are you ready to go?"

"Not yet." James told her, moving over to their dresser and scooping up and armful of his clothes, shoving them into his duffel bag. "What?" He demanded when Eva gave him a look.

Eva only shook her head and turned back to Storm. "We'll be ready in a few minutes."

"Scott's getting the van ready. The Professor says be ready to leave in fifteen minutes."

"Roger that." Eva responded, turning back to her bag once Storm had left the room.

"I'll be right back. I need to talk to the Professor." James told her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving, closing the door behind him.

Evan let out a heavy sigh and packed her toiletries, zipping up her suitcase and packing the rest of James's things so they wouldn't be the last ones down. She hauled their bags on her shoulders, walking down to the van and throwing their bags into the back before settling into the backseat.

"You know, we're not leaving for at least another ten minutes." Storm said, poking her head into the car.

"That's fine." Eva responded, putting her earbuds in so she could think on the ride over to the private airport. She used her phone to send a quick email to all her students, sending them the lesson plan for the next few months and telling them to finish it at their own pace, but everything was still due on the day the plan said. Thank goodness for technology.

When James entered the car a few minutes later, Remy and Rogue had already taken the two spots next to her, so he sat directly in front of her. He looked nervous about something. Eva knew he had a fear of flying, but it usually didn't kick in until takeoff. This was something else. Her eyes narrowed before she turned her music to deafening levels, blocking out the chatter in the van when it finally began to make its way towards the airport.

Remy elbowed her a few minutes later and nodded towards the front of the van, where the Professor and Scott were sitting. "What's up?" She asked, pulling her earbuds out of her ears.

"Do you know anything about Senator Malone? You are in better contact with the members of Congress who support mutant rights than any of us." Professor Xavier asked.

"I've met him before, but I haven't spoken to him in several years." Eva responded.

"That seems odd. Fighting for mutant rights and he doesn't even bother to speak to mutants." Scott commented.

Eva ignored most of the conversation on the plane ride to D.C, partly because she was exhausted and partly because she wasn't in the mood. It was almost midnight when their plane finally touched down at the airport.

"I booked our hotel rooms while we were on the plane." Eva announced as they climbed into the waiting van. "Fiona and John are coming over tomorrow with their teams so we can talk about strategy. Apparently, it's a big shit storm on Capitol Hill because of this bill."

"Not surprising." Scott said.

The ride to the hotel was silent. Everyone found their rooms and went to sleep, forgoing any plan-making for the next day. If they wanted to get anything done, they needed a good night's rest.

Rest did not come for Eva. She lay awake that night, with James sleeping soundly beside her. She stared up at the ceiling, trying to come up with an idea to handle the situation with Tyler. Nothing was coming to mind, besides intimidation. Tyler didn't scare easily, and he wasn't easily intimidated. There wasn't much she could do. She had to think of something, though.

James rolled onto his back, his brows furrowing in his sleep. Eva looked over and sat up, watching him.

"Eva…" He muttered, jerking slightly.

Eva scooted closer to him, brushing some stray hairs from his face. "I'm here, James." She murmured, cupping his face with her hand.

He muttered her name again, louder this time. He must have been having a dream about her. From the look on his face, it wasn't a good dream.

James woke with a start, sitting straight up with a shout. Eva jumped back, hands up in shock as he breathed heavily, bare chest heaving as he looked over at her.

"Is everything alright?" She asked quietly, putting a hand on his arm.

His gaze fell to his lap as he rubbed his face roughly. "It's fine. Just a bad dream." He told her.

"You said my name while you were sleeping." She said matter-of-factly.

A look of fear flashed through his eyes as she spoke. "It's fine." He repeated, moving his legs over the bed to plant his feet on the floor, turning his back to her.

Eva sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "I've tried to be understanding, James, but I've held my tongue for too long. I know something is wrong, and I don't know why you've been keeping it from me. We promised there would be no secrets between us, but from how you've been acting the past several weeks, something is going on that you're not telling me about. And I know it has something to do with our relationship. You've been acting strangely, you barely touch me or even let me touch you, and it's like we're walking on eggshells whenever we're together. I hate that something has come between us. You need to tell me what it is so we can move past this instead of ignoring that something is wrong." She told him.

When he didn't respond, she crawled to his side of the bed and sat down next to him, taking one of his hands in both of her own. "Please, James." She whispered.

"You wouldn't believe me." He responded lowly.

"At least tell me, and we can work from there." She responded.

He stood, pacing for a few seconds before turning to look at her.

"I can't remember anything."