Hello again! I know this is soon, but I had it half done anyway, and I won't be even able to WRITE for about two weeks (I have a two-hour exam, chemistry exam, and bio quiz on the same day and I really need to study!)... So... Here you are my lovelies! Let me know what you think!

If anyone thinks this doesn't fit go back over the last two chapters. This is the conclusion to the build-up I have going (there are signs I promise!). And as for Anya... well... if it seems out of character, remember, Charles is her whole world at the moment; he is her idol and her angel and she would do ANYTHING to make him happy. Even accept someone she is furious with.

On that note, enjoy! Let me know what you think!

Chapter Nine: Manipulative (Oct. 28, 1977)

I guess manipulation runs in the family. I mean, the way Hank, Sean and I showed Erik Charles and Anya… The poor guy just had about a heart attack when he finally stumbled out of the kitchen last night (ignoring the crossed fingers I had for about thirty seconds there). But that was the point, wasn't it? Get him so shocked he stuck around? We had to. We've had to be other times too, which sucks, but hey, ends justify the means and all that bullshit. The Prof doesn't use his master manipulation very often, but he's a sneaky bastard when he wants to be. You have to be, raising four teenagers by yourself (six if you include Jesse and Maxine Winters, which I don't. A because they still live with relatively non-judgemental parents, and B because I don't want the little psychic shit staying anywhere near my sister on a full time basis. Maxine I will adopt in a heartbeat). The number of times he's gotten us to back down from fights without using his mutation is actually pretty scary. And of course the squirt's got it - you don't get to be that spoiled (with love of course) without learning a trick or two.

I shake my head and laugh. I wouldn't have caught it if she hadn't punched Erik. She even had me fooled! Damn, but that girl is getting good! She's lucky though; if the Prof hadn't been so startled by the entire night, he would have realized something was wrong too. I'm still waiting for him to figure this out.

Though if she's getting this clever, and with Jesse's help (asshole), she'll run circles around the two of them.

I'm honestly skipping when I walk downstairs later that morning. Anya, of course, is awake, and scowling at a cup of coffee when she attempts to wrap her bad hand around it, flinching at the pain in the cracked knuckle. "Well well well… If it isn't the little matchmaker herself!" I taunt. Anya flushes and brushes her hands through her hair self-consciously. Bad move: she has to flex her fingers with a wince after that.

"I have no idea what the noises coming out of your mouth are. Get coffee and then talk like a civilized human being." I whistle and do that, fixing the drink to my liking and grinning at her the whole while. "What crawled up your ass and started throwing up rainbows, Alex?" she huffs. That is a disgusting enough visual that my brain reels in absolute gag-iness for a moment.

"Ew, Squirt, really?"

"Hey it's Annie's line, don't blame me!" I frown a little but push the thought from my head. The problem with having a mutant family is Anya's got to be careful who she brings home. Ninety-percent I haven't met, and poor Hank has only ever met Jesse and Maxine. Everyone else is just a name and another explanation of why Anya says some of the weirdest shit ever. "Anyway, what's up? Shouldn't you be watching the asshole currently not sleeping two doors down from Dad's room?"

"Worried they might be making out," I hedge. She makes a face. Don't actually blame her on that one. Parental figures making out - ew.

"Uh, noooo."

"Right that would be too easy, wouldn't it?" I tease. She frowns at me. Confusion and anger play across her sharp features. C'mon, Ahn, I know you… Give me something… You're good but you're not that good...

"Alex, so help me if you don't get to the damn point I'm going to knock you over the head with a rolling pin."

"Hope you do a better job than you did punching Magneto." Damn, not even an eyebrow twitch. Can't tell if she's actually pissed either, or just trying to cover.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I give up trying to goad her and go blunt. Erik's rubbing off on me again. "It means in the five years you've lived here, you have gotten in no less than twenty-two fights, two of which got you expelled from two different schools. And not once have you managed to fracture your hand." Anya's face goes blank and her eyebrows raise. Yeah, like that's going to work.

"I get abrasions and breaks all the time. Comes from talking with my fists."

"Not from keeping your thumb in your fist like a moron you don't." She blushes, eyes wide. Got ya.

"I didn't… That is… No I didn't…" Anya splutters indignantly. I just grin and recline back..

First lesson you learn from fighting is you don't keep your thumb in your fist. Your punch is strong, sure, but you will only hurt yourself. If you're lucky, you'll get a sprain in the joint. If not, you could break something, especially depending on where you aim. And Anya, strong and foolhardy, is known for her knock-out punch at the chin - the brain is forced to slam back and forth and the assailant is knocked out. So why in the hell would she punch Erik on the freaking jaw?!

"Plus, you tried oh-so-hard not to mess up his pretty face." She glowers at me. I ignore her. "So, step one complete. What's next on your little get-Prof-and-Erik together master plan?" I love how she flushes when she's caught. It's oh-so-satisfying to see.

But of course, the Lehnsherr blood won't let her accept defeat. "How do you know I wasn't just trying to get Erik kicked out?" she asks haughtily. I raise an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Seriously? By throwing a temper tantrum? Ahn, you haven't pulled crap like that since you were eleven. Besides, that's the I'm a protective bitch don't mess with me shit you did last night, not rich little brat." She just looks at me like I'm an idiot. I sigh. "I caught on after I saw you had broken your thumb. After that, I started thinking why, y'know? Why would you throw such a crappy punch? Then it hit me - you were trying to make Erik guilty about the Prof. Make him believe it was his fault that Prof's in a wheelchair. Which it sort of is, but to be blamed by other people is in ways worse than being blamed by the Prof, because he'll just play it cool and forgive immediately. So if Erik's feeling pretty damn guilty, then he's going to forget any grudges he has for a little bit. Am I getting warmer?" I sing-song when I see Anya blush harder. "If he forgets his grudges he's going to try to make amends with Charles for what he did. He's going to spend time with him. And, since apparently even you figured out the little Shakespeare play going on with those two without even seeing them together before, you've got a prime opportunity to make them hash out their differences and get together - secretly, of course," I add when she opens her mouth in a suspiciously law-quoting manner.

"That is pure speculation," she says stiffly. I smirk and translate to damn it you caught me.

"How right am I?" I taunt. She glares at me.

"Maybe… a little," she admits grudgingly. I laugh.

"Schemer," I tease. Anya cracks a grin.

"No worse than you lot. Seriously, couldn't you have given me some warning? I hate making stuff up on the fly." I blink. Then blink again. Okay back up…

"Wait, how long had you been planning that?" I ask. She shrugs.

"Twenty minutes before you walked in."

I'm not sure if she's serious until I see her face. She's chagrinned, biting her lip and looking down at her fractured hand. Oh… Wow. "That's… not very long," I volunteer, more shocked than anything. Anya snorts derisively.

"No, and I could have done better if I had more time and wasn't surprised to see him." She tilts her head, frowning. "I really do look like him. It was kind of scary, actually… I see why you guys cringe why I glare now." She smiles. I don't.

"So twenty minutes before we showed up you decided that you weren't angry and that you… what? Want this homicidal maniac dating your dad?" I say incredulously. My sister wrinkles her nose and shakes her head.

"You're the one who broke him out! By the way, I want to know how you did that…"

"Do not change the subject Anya!" I say shortly. ANya sighs.

"It's not that simple Alex."

"Then try and explain it, because frankly, I knew you needed to meet the guy, but I thought it would be at least a decade before you wanted to even speak to him without using your fists." My mind is boggling. I mean I knew what she was planning after I bandaged up her hand, but this? Twenty minutes? Anya's not a flake and she's not a hypocrite. She's as stubborn as her father - both of them, actually, and that's a hell of a lot of stubborn between the Prof and Magneto. So what could have changed so drastically in so tiny of an amount of time?

"Dad did," she says, like it should be obvious. I stare at her until she starts tugging on her curls and frowning. "Fine. As one of my presents he gave me Erik's helmet."

My mouth drops.

Anya glowers at me. "Yes, thank you so much for keeping me in the dark about that. Anyway, I didn't know what it was, and then Dad says that it's a telepathy repressing helmet. Okay, that's weird, but whatever - maybe he's finally going to acknowledge that I am going to be fighting. But then he said it was Erik's." She sighs and twists her hands through the ends of her red hair. "Honestly I wanted to chuck it at a window when he said that. I'd been having such a good day, and then Dad goes and gives me that… But then I saw his face. The way he was watching the helmet. And begging me - begging! - for me to have a good relationship with Erik. Telling me it was okay to forgive him." Anya's eyes are flicking back and forth over her hands, bright bottle green and slightly shining. "He missed him - Erik I mean. Dad missed Erik. And it was all over his face too that it wasn't some brotherly love or friendship - but maybe that was part of it I don't know - and he was hurting. He was hurting without Erik, even though this guy had hurt him five years ago." She shakes her head. "For someone to be like that… I knew. Or guessed, at any rate. It was like a switch flipped and suddenly I could see why Dad doesn't talk about Erik, hates the name Magneto, gets that look on his face whenever I say something bad about him. He loves him. Like really loves him." She takes a deep breath. I lay a hand gently on her arm and nod encouragingly. I know where this is going without having to ask, and frankly, I'm in awe of our adoptive father - because she's Erik's kid, through and through, with her fists and her sass and her my-way-or-the-highway attitude, but she's also Charles' little girl, with his spirit and his ferocity for what's right and his ability to really look at someone without even telepathy. I'm so proud of Charles, for turning what could have been Magneto Mark II into her own person.

It's inspiring to see what that man can do, and I'm proud he's my foster father. Being in love with Erik doesn't change that pride for me.

"And then I saw Erik. I saw Erik look at Dad. And…"

"S'okay Squirt. I get it. I saw that look a lot before you came into the picture," I murmur. She gulps and nods.

"Erik loves him too. Like -"

"Really loves him," I say, nudging her and grinning. "You repeat yourself a lot, you know that?" She bushes but leans into my shoulder. I wrap my arm around her and relish the moment where she's not pretending to be a grown-up and a soldier right now. It's like when we were back in the hospital when she was eleven and I was seventeen, and she was crying after the first of many nightmares and I held her, this tiny little waif of a girl I didn't even really know. It just… fit.

It never really stopped.

I rub her shoulder until she sits up, blinking and yawning a little. "This isn't going to be easy," she mumbles.

"Are we talking about getting them together at all, or keeping it quiet so you don't get taken away?" I ask. She looks startled at the reminder that homosexuality is not legal. She better start remembering soon before we're all in trouble. "Frankly, having them keep it under wraps until no one gives a shit is going to be harder," I point out. Anya scowls.

"That is so dumb," she grouses. "There's nothing wrong with liking the same sex, it doesn't hurt anyone!"

"Yeah, well, there are people who will take you away if they find out that you have two dads," I remind her gently. The scowl hardens. 'It sucks, I know, but that's the way it is."

"The way it is is stupid," she spits out. "Who cares who a man or woman takes to bed at night and wakes up with? Who does it affect? Their children? More kids get abused by heterosexual couples than there are homosexual couples! And Dad loves me, and supports me, and encourages me in what I want to do - he has never been anything but unconditionally loving." She crosses her arms and literally growls. Oh hell yeah - Charles morality, and Erik's way of doing things. I have to fight a grin unless she starts shredding me with the teeth she inherited from her biological father. "If that's abusive then lock all the loving parents up," she concludes, throwing herself back dramatically. I simply raise an eyebrow.

"You're going for a political science degree aren't you?"

"You bet your ass and Dad's fortune on it."

XXX-XXX

Jesse Winters (asshole) comes by later with a large grin and Maxine Winters. I grab Maxine and glare at the dark-haired prick currently grinning at my sister in a way that makes me want to pummel him. Anya, the stupid girl, is grinning back.

"Uh oh," Maxine whispers to me. "He's doing it again. Want me to whack him with my wings?" I am seriously adopting this kid.

"I heard that," Jesse (asshole) says to his sister. She sticks her tongue out at him. "Hi, Alex." I ignore him. Anya glares at me. I glare back. "So, darling, how was the rest of your birthday?" the manipulative asshole says to her. She is instantly beaming.

"Perfect, thanks. I got the best presents from Dad and my brothers after you dropped me off." Only the knowledge that my some-what controversial present was considered one of the best keeps me from howling that this guy was involved in her special day at all.

"You went out with this jackass?"

I didn't howl that. I yelled it. Big difference.

"It was gross," Maxine complains. "Oh, yeah, Anya, can I say happy birthday now? Jesse wouldn't let me call or anything - said I shouldn't ruin your day." She sneers at her brother with disdain. It's funny, I used to like the kid before he mutated into the handy-eyed freak, and now he's so uppity about his visions his own sister can't stand him. Maybe if he wasn't so damn cryptic and stopped trying to make everyone go down the path he wants then I'd like him.

I also haven't quite forgiven him for nearly killing Anya two years ago.

"Of course," Anya giggles. Maxine levitates off the ground and hurls herself at Anya, squealing and babbling a mile a minute. Anya just laughs and hugs Maxine so tightly that the younger girl complains that her leathery wings are getting wrinkled. I smile, happy that my sister is happy, and debate if she'd notice if I blasted Jesse (asshole) out into the next century with a plasma beam. I mean, Maxine's safe…

"Anya?" I look up because I recognize the voice but not the tone: hesitant and soft. But no, it's Erik. Anya looks tranquil for half a second, her eyes on Maxine. She looks… peaceful. Like there's a weight gone. Letting go of your anger to set your parents up must take a lot of strain off of someone. Then she shifts, winks at me, and hardens her face.

If not for the wink I would have thought I imagined the serenity she had at hearing her father's voice.

"What?" she barks. Maxine stiffens in Anya's arms and the older girl rubs a soothing hand over her back. I reach out and gently pry Max from my sister and hold onto her.

"It's a game, just watch," I whisper so low that not even Jesse (asshole), with his enhanced hearing can listen in. "She's not actually angry." Maxine looks confused but nods slowly.

Erik's eyes take in the mutants strewn across the foyer and then slowly fix on the human girl in the center of them, slim hip cocked to the side and eyebrow raised defiantly. "Who… who are your friends/" he asks, and oh boy this is so weird. I feel like I'm in the fucking Twilight Zone right now. Erik, shy? What the hell?

Anya's scowl deepens. "What's it to you, deserter?" she snarks at him, lips pursed in what I know is feigned fury. Erik's eye twitches. Ouch. Even I wince at that.

"Who's he?" Maxine whispers to me.

"Anya's dad," I reply. The poor girl looks even more confused.

"But Charles is her dad!" the small girl hisses. I shrug because I really don't know what to say. This situation is pretty damn complicated as is - I barely understand it so there's no way I can explain it.

"Don't mind her, she gets like that," Jesse (asshole) says breezily, brushing Anya aside and addressing Erik. I roll my eyes and glare at the blind mutant. Erik's eyes, green and piercing, narrow on the boy dangerously. Jesse holds out his palm, the blue eye blinking lazily. "I'm Jesse Winters," the boy says with that cocky grin I want to deck right off his face.

Erik's eyes are slits.

"Jesse?" he growls. Jesse's (asshole's) smile falters a little, and that blue eye suddenly flicks wide open. Anya loses her facade for a moment, blinking in bewilderment as her best friend starts to back away from her. I, on the other hand, am suddenly remembering that expression and gleefully waiting for the upcoming repercussions to the arrogant psychic. "The same Jesse that nearly killed my daughter two years ago? That Jesse?" Gone is the hesitance, the guilt, and in its place is a fury I can vividly recall when facing Shaw on a beach in Cuba.

Apparently Jesse (asshole) can see it too. He doesn't even need to be told; he just runs.

And Erik chases after him, various pieces of metal following him.

Anya screams and ducks out of the way of the flying objects and the path of her murderous biological father while Maxine and I start laughing so hard we have to hold our guts. I don't think Erik will kill him… At any rate Charles will stop him before long. Unfortunately. "Erik! Erik get back here!" Anya screams. "ERIK LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

I let go of Maxine and look out the door to the two streaks running across the lawns. "I've got his arms!" I yell at Erik, bounding out the door.

"ALEX! NOT YOU TOO!"

"I'm helping!" Maxine crows, running out the door and taking off, her powerful wings flapping happily.

"DAD THEY'RE GOING TO KILL JESSE!" Anya hollers before chasing after us, panicking as Erik throws metal objects repeatedly at Jesse (asshole) Winter's head. I'm laughing so hard I can barely breath, my steps faltering with it, but I keep going with every intention of helping Erik beat the miserable brat into a pulp.

Oh man, I should have brought Erik back years ago!

Oh Alex... Let me know what you think!