Murphy's Child Chapter 18, a x-men: the movie fanfic

Author's Note: Yay, it's finally up! I actually meant to have this chapter up before I sent you guys the CDs, but oh, well. The second Rachel and Bobby scene in this chapter was pretty much the reason behind their song that's on the soundtrack...Which you'll probably notice. And Warren's words to Zephyr last chapter were from one of the Warren/Zephyr songs on the CD. I'll let you guess which one. ;) And Sam's wonderful fun 'I'd like to see you without your bathing suit thing' is the reason behind Shakira's 'Underneath,' in case no one figured that out. ;) So, um...yeah. I'll probably keep doing stuff like that, 'cause it's fun. So look out for song stuff? Oooo, look, long author's note. Goes with the long chapter? ;)

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Chapter Eighteen

It was cold, but then, that wasn't terribly surprising. Giant underground rooms divided into jail cells tended not to be the warmest of places. Or maybe they did. For all Rachel knew, all of the other giant, underground rooms filled with jail cells could be warm as hell. This was the first time she had ever had the pleasure of being in one of them. And down here, it was freaking cold. Rachel was just glad she was wearing her sweatshirt and pants.

It probably doesn't bother Bobby at all, Rachel thought, glancing wistfully over at Bobby.

Earlier, after Rachel first woke up, she and Bobby had talked for quite a bit. Apparently whatever had happened, or not happened, between them in the kitchen didn't matter anymore. It was slowly seeming less and less significant. Somehow, worrying about whether or not things would be awkward between you and one of your closest friends just didn't seem important when you weren't even sure either of you were going to be living much longer. He must have thought so, too, because their conversation hadn't been at all strained. Well, not more than the location called for, anyway.

Now, though, Bobby was sleeping. So was everyone else, actually. Except for Anorra. Anorra was sitting the in corner of their cage, her arms around her legs as she hugged them to her chest. Her fingers were idly toying with the sleeve of Piotr's jacket, which she was still wearing. At another time, Rachel would have made some teasing remark or another. But Anorra….Anorra wasn't exactly herself. The scaled mutant hadn't move from that position since Rachel had woken up, which didn't exactly scream of sanity. And any attempt to go near her produced a vague growling noise. As such, Rachel had wisely made the decision to stay clear of her freaked out cellmate.

But without anyone else to talk to, Rachel was lonely. She didn't know how long she had been awake, since they had no way of telling time down here. That was really disorienting, and she had to wonder if whoever had them down here was doing it on purpose. Not being able to figure out how long they'd been down here made everything worse. For all Rachel knew, it could have been weeks. Especially since none of them knew how long they had been out.

She was only just now starting to get hungry, though, so she didn't think it had been that long. She wasn't thirsty, because they had found water. Each cell had one corner walled off from the rest of the cell. A door opened up into a small room, inside of which was completely hidden from view once the door was closed. The room contained a toilet, a sink, and a twenty-four pack of bottle water. Obviously, whoever had them down here was planning on keeping them at least long enough for them to need to drink water and use the restroom. Of course, that wasn't really saying much, since the need for those two things could arise within hours of being caught.

At least they had access to water and such, though. And the walls of the small room provided a surface to lean against that didn't result in being tossed across the room. Most of the sleeping people were taking advantage of it. Cassandra was resting against her wall, getting as close to the bars between her cage and Kurt and Samantha's as she could without touching them. On the other side of the bars, Samantha was leaning back against the wall as well, also close to the bars. Most likely so that Cassandra could feel as much like she had someone with her as possible. In his cage, Bobby was also sitting against one of the walls. Gambit and Kurt were the only ones not making use of a safe surface to lean against.

Gambit had taken off his trenchcoat, folded it up, then plopped down on the floor and used it as a pillow. Kurt was also stretched out on the floor, but his head was resting in Samantha's lap. The fingers of her left hand were tangled in his hair, and his tail was wrapped around her right arm. The large, arrow-head point of his tail was curled around her right hand, almost as if it was holding it. Kurt was also clutching his rosary tightly.

Neither of those facts surprised Rachel at all. Samantha and Kurt hadn't let go of each other the entire time she had been awake. Samantha had always been touchy-feely to the extreme, so Rachel expected something like that from her, but she had been a bit surprised to see Kurt clinging to her as well. Although, as far as coping methods went, a little clinging didn't bother Rachel. It kind of made Rachel wish she was caged with Bobby, but at least it wasn't as bad as Anorra's choice of coping mechanisms.

Admittedly, Rachel had been a bit jumpy when she first woke up, but nothing like Anorra. According to the others, Anorra had paced around the cage for an incredibly long time before plopping down in her corner and not moving. Rachel glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, then looked away again. It was seriously creepy. And it was making Rachel wish, again, that Bobby had been her cellmate. Or anyone, really, except Anorra. Rachel loved Anorra and all, but under these circumstances, Rachel wasn't entirely sure what Anorra would do. And Anorra's behavior definitely wasn't making Rachel feel any more comfortable.

And…well, Rachel just kind of wanted Bobby in here, anyways. She had been thinking a lot about what she had said in the kitchen because, really, there wasn't much else to think about. It was either that or dwell on her impending doom. And that wasn't a really fun topic to think about. Although, actually, whenever she though about her conversation with Bobby, she thought about the doom thing. And she was starting to wonder if maybe she hadn't been wrong.

Yeah, she was only eighteen. But it was occurring to her that maybe that didn't particularly mean anything. Joining the X-men had completely changed her life. She hadn't realized it until now, but that life could be a lot shorter than she thought. Hell, it could end any minute. What the hell was she waiting for? For it to be too late to tell Bobby that she liked him? For….

Frustrated, Rachel shook her head. This wasn't getting her anywhere. And it wasn't doing anything except making her more depressed, more desperate to get out of here. With a sigh, she stretched, and then began practicing her tennis swings.

Some time later, she heard Bobby commented, "Nice. Should have known you'd find some way to get tennis practice in."

Grinning, Rachel stopped swinging and turned to face him. "Of course. It's me." She walked closer to the bars, asking, "Sleep well?"

"Oh, yeah." Bobby said. "The rock mattress was great. I think I'm going to get one put into my bedroom back home."

Rachel laughed. "Well now I'm definitely never going to sleep with you again."

He grinned at her. "It's a very good thing our friends weren't awake for that one."

She rolled her eyes. "They're dorks."

He laughed. "I'm telling them you said that. How's Anorra doing?"

Rachel glanced over her shoulder, then sighed. "Bad. She still hasn't moved from her little corner. I wish I could just do something. Figure out a way out of here or something."

Bobby didn't say anything. Instead, he gently rested his right hand against the energy field on the bars. Little spots of pink and green collected around his fingers, but his touch was light enough that the energy field allowed it. Rachel smiled softly and copied the move with her left, lining up their hands so that, if not for the barrier, they would be touching.

"Bobby." She said quietly. "I've been thinking. About what I said earlier. It doesn't really matter, does it? Who knows how much time I have left? I can't really worry that I'm committing to something too early in my life, can I? Because we don't know how much life we have. Especially…Especially not us, with what we do. What we are."

"You're not gonna die, Rach." Bobby told her, locking her eyes with his. "I won't let you."

Rachel just shook her head. That was sweet of him, but if their captors decided to kill her now there would be little he could do. "I don't want to die without letting you know that I care about you. Without knowing that I at least gave us a try. To see if this could be anything." She paused. "I don't want to die without being with you." For a moment, she worried that he would take that the wrong way and she'd have to ruin the moment by adding 'not sex, dating.'

But then he said, "If you want to be together, then we are. For however long it lasts."

Rachel smiled again and nodded her head.

Bobby bit his lip. "I wish I could kiss you now." He said softly.

"I wish you could, too." Rachel replied in an equally low tone.

They looked at each other for a long moment, then Rachel commented, "I hope we don't die in an hour, now. Because that would be one hell of a short time to have a boyfriend, even for me."

Anorra's thoughts were starting to be a bit jumbled. Whatever drug had been used to knock her out was apparently not working itself out of her system as fast as it had for the others. Or maybe it was a combination of the drugs and Anorra's panicking predator instincts. The dragon inside her didn't like being captured. It wanted to do what all predators did when caged: attack. Anything and everything, just as long as it got out. It had learned not to go near the bars, though. And Anorra's human side was preventing it from attacking Rachel.

But that meant that she had a very unhappy dragon sitting inside her, fighting to get out. That was one of the main reasons why Anorra had stopped pacing. While she was moving, stalking, the dragon was closer to the surface. Anorra wasn't sure she could keep it away. So she was sitting, arms clutching her legs tightly to her chest as if that would help contain the dragon. It was working, but only barely.

At least she wasn't cold, though. Piotr's big jacket wrapped around her was keeping her perfectly warm. And it smelled like him, too. Anorra didn't realize it, and wouldn't admit it even if she did, but Piotr's presence, however small, was helping her human side remain in control. She did wish he was here, though. If only because he would be able to provide an intelligent person to talk to. Someone who would be able to come up with a plan out of here.

Everyone else seemed to have resigned themselves to their fate. They carried on, chatting like nothing was wrong, but anyone with half of a brain could feel the worry, the fear thick in the air. None of them were even trying to come up with a plan. Granted, Anorra couldn't find one that would work, either, but most of Anorra's concentration was spent trying to make sure her dragon didn't come out and attack anything within sight. What was their excuse?

Anorra was scared. She wanted out of here. She didn't know how much longer her human side would be able to keep the dragon in control. It was hard, fighting her instincts. And the last thing Anorra ever wanted to do was hurt one of her friends. They were the first people to ever accept her, to ever actually care about her. Anorra loved them. The thought that she might lose control, might give into her dragon side frightened her.

Of course, they weren't making it any easier. Fuck, you'd think six people who were supposed to be trained for this kind of thing could come up with some sort of escape plan. Wait to be rescued was just the stupidest thing Anorra had ever heard. Xavier needed to get his students to shape up. They were supposed to be X-men. Since when did superheroes sit in a cage and wait to be saved? That was what the damsel in distress did. And Anorra was anything but a damsel in distress.

But no. They were all sitting around, being completely useless. God, they were actually cuddling. Anorra didn't even want to look over at Samantha and Kurt's cage. The two of them had been groping each other without stop. And that last part wasn't an exaggeration. Cassandra wasn't any better. She kept whining about her fucking Logan snuggles. Anorra didn't have Piotr, and Gambit didn't have Rogue, but were either of them complaining? No. Of course, Anorra wasn't acknowledging the fact that she wouldn't have minded some Piotr cuddling, but that was beside the point. The point was that Cassandra needed to shut the fuck up, and Samantha needed to get her fucking hands off of Kurt. Maybe if they did, they could use their brains to think of something.

Neither of them had to worry about keeping themselves in control. They didn't have to struggle every second with these instincts. But instead of using that freedom to do something worthwhile, they were focusing on boys. Anorra couldn't think of anything more inappropriate. And Rachel and Bobby weren't helping, either. The two of them kept getting as close to each other as they could, talking in hushed voices about who knows what. If Anorra cared, she could listen in. But she didn't really want to know what they were saying.

A glance over at Rachel told Anorra that she was doing it again. God, she and Bobby even had their hands against the bars. That was so sappy Anorra almost wanted to puke. She didn't feel her control slip a little, then, didn't feel the dragon coming closer to the surface. She didn't realize that she never would have been thinking such mean things about her friends if she wasn't letting the caged predator get more control.

Instead, she listened in on their conversation. Part of her was hoping that they were at least going to try to come up with a plan. She should have known better, though. No, Bobby and Rachel weren't thinking of a way out of here. They were apparently going to start dating. Fucking brilliant. Instead of being useful, two of her friends had gotten hooked up, another two wouldn't stop with the PDA, one was harping about getting snuggles from a man who was God knows how old, and the other was…well, Gambit hadn't really done anything. But knowing him, he was probably contemplating ways to get Rogue in bed. That would be his big accomplishment.

Anorra growled to herself. God her friends sucked. Sure, she loved them, but she never, ever wanted to get stuck with them in a situation that called from brains. Because apparently none of them could think with brains. They could only think with hormones. Couldn't they get their sex drives in control long enough to get out of here? Then they could have all the sex they wanted. Anorra didn't care.

And then she heard Bobby and Rachel talk about wanting to be able to kiss. See? Anorra was so fucking right. Bobby and Rachel were looking at each other with those fucking goo-goo dolls eyes, the ones that were supposed to be sweet and romantic but really only meant that the two of them wanted to rip each other's clothes off. And that was when Anorra lost it. Instincts telling her that she had to get out, now, and that anything and everything in here was an enemy, Anorra sprang forward.

Rachel let out a startled scream as Anorra pounced on her, knocking both of them to the ground. Rachel shoved Anorra off of her and stood up.

"Anorra, cut it out!" Bobby said, then yelled, "Guys, wake up!"

Anorra rolled easily onto her foot and then crouched down, eyeing Rachel. Rachel's eyes were darting around the cage as she tried to figure out what she should do, but before she could get a chance Anorra lunged for her again. Rachel ducked and rolled off to the side, but Anorra was there to meet her when she stood up. They stood there again, both waiting for the other to make a move.

By now, everyone else had woken up.

"Anorra!" Cassandra called. "Snap out of it!"

"Come on, Anorra, Rachel's your friend." Kurt told her.

"Look, sweetie, I know the instincts are telling you to fight your way out of here, but you have to control them, okay?" Samantha said.

"Yeah, Anorra, you really, really don't want to attack me." Rachel said, taking a step back.

Anorra was beyond understanding any of them, though, and as Rachel moved Anorra struck. Her hands were formed into claws that gripped Rachel's arms tight enough to draw blood, and Anorra bit down hard on Rachel's right shoulder. Cassandra, Kurt, and Gambit started yelling again while both Bobby and Samantha attempted unsuccessfully to punch through the energy barrier between their cages. Rachel let out a strangled cry and started to try one of Logan's defensive maneuvers when Anorra suddenly stiffened. Her body shook a few times, then she dropped to the floor.

Sometime during the fight, six men armed with what look like tranquillizer guns had come into the room. All six of them were shooting Anorra through the bars, and at least a dozen darts were sticking out of her back. When Anorra stayed down for a few minutes, the men pulled back their guns and holstered them.

"Hey!" Cassandra yelled. "What the hell? Who the hell are you guys?"

"And what do you want with us?" Kurt asked.

None of the men said anything. Instead, one of them pushed a button on his belt and a section of the wall between Rachel's cage and Bobby and Gambit's opened. Without any encouragement, Rachel went through the open door and ran into Bobby's arms. The bars closed behind her and the men started out of the room.

"You sure as hell better be hoping Gambit never gets out of here, homes, cause when he does you all are gonna be hurting." Gambit yelled after them.

Rachel was shaking as she tightened her arms around Bobby's neck, holding him as close as possible. Now she was certain she was going to die in here. If even one of her best friends tried to kill her, what hope did she have that the person behind all of this was going to let them live?

Bobby's arms tightened around her as well, and even without directly touching his skin she could feel the cold coming off him. His body temperature dropped whenever he was scared or angry, and judging by how cold she was feeling he had to be a lot of both right now. But Rachel didn't care. She wasn't going to be moving any time soon. She had to feel Bobby's arms around her, had to be able to hold him like this. Because she didn't know if this was going to be the last time she was able to.

"We need to look at your shoulder." Bobby told her quietly.

"Don't let go." Rachel said without moving her head from his chest. "Just keep your arms around me." She paused for a moment, then lifted her head so her lips were close to his. "You said you wanted to kiss me."

Apparently he didn't need any more encouragement, because before she could really finish talking his lips were on hers. God, his skin was so cold. But Rachel felt more alive in that moment than she had since she got here. His tongue flicked against her lower lip and her lips parted, her own tongue snaking out to meet his. Bobby's hand went to the small of her back, holding her against him, and Rachel knew it wasn't just his cold skin sending shivers down her spine.

Samantha cleared her throat. "I, um, really don't want to interrupt Rachel finally not being stupid, but, uh. Rach? You're sort of bleeding on Bobby. You might wanna take care of that."

Rachel didn't particularly care about her shoulder, but Bobby apparently did because he pulled away.

"She's right." Bobby told her. "Come on, let's fix that."

On Wednesday morning, the sound of barking woke Warren up just after sunrise. He groaned softly and pulled the covers closer, hoping that if he ignored it, it would either go away or turn out to be a dream. Unfortunately, it didn't stop, and when Zephyr began stirring beside him he figured it wasn't a dream, either. Warren sighed softly, then rolled over onto his side so he could face Zephyr as she woke up.

God, she was so beautiful. Warren had no idea what she saw in him, but he was damn glad it was something. Zephyr had been the first person to really look at him like he wasn't some kind of freak. He couldn't imagine his life here without her. They hadn't talked about their pasts much, just little snippets of conversation, enough to know that they had some similarities. Well, actually, Warren hadn't spoken about his past much. Zephyr had told him about her family, about her worries that her father and brother wouldn't accept her. Warren was the one who was holding back.

He didn't want her to pity him. He had seen it enough in the eyes of the people his father had paid to take care of him. Warren didn't want to risk seeing it in her eyes. Especially because he knew that she would be horrified at what his father had been trying to do to him. But it wasn't his father's fault. His father just wanted to fix things, just wanted to make Warren normal. The only problem was that Warren hadn't wanted to let the wings go. He hadn't wanted to never be able to fly again. And now, mainly due to Zephyr and the others here, Warren was starting to think that maybe he was already normal.

Zephyr opened her eyes, then, and smiled at him, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Morning." He greeted.

"Morning." She returned, then frowned. "Is that a dog?"

"I don't know." Warren answered, then sat up as Zephyr slid out of the bed and moved over to the balcony doors.

"It doesn't sound like a dog." Zephyr said as she pushed them open and stepped out onto the balcony. Her eyes darted around in search of the source of the barking before finally settling on a black wolf standing just in front of the Institute main doors. "Sam!" Zephyr yelled, turning to run back inside.

"Sam's outside!" She called to Warren as she darted past him and out into the hall.

Warren's eyes lit up as he chased after her, helping her bang on the other adults' doors on their way down to the front entrance. Zephyr skidded to a stop in front of the main doors and threw them open. A huge black wolf bounded inside, letting out a howl as it started sniffing all over the room.

"Sammie?" Zephyr asked.

The wolf paused as Scott, Piotr, and Rogue trooped down the stairs and into the halls.

"Is that you, Sam?" Rogue asked.

Zephyr took a closer look at the wolf, though, and after seeing amber eyes shook her head. "No." She said softly. "That's not Sam."

The wolf sat down, locking eyes with Zephyr.

"It's Arabus." Zephyr said.

"Arabus?" Piotr asked.

"He's Sam's." Zephyr answered. "She raised him from a pup, so they have some mind link or something."

"Mind link, eh?" Logan asked as he and Ororo came up from the basement.

Scott glanced at Arabus, then looked at Zephyr. "Can he sense her now?"

Arabus shook his head.

"You know where she is, bub?" Logan asked, stepping closer to the wolf again.

Arabus shook his head again, making a soft whining noise.

Ororo considered this for a moment, then asked, "Could you find the place where you last sensed her?"

There was a pause, then Arabus nodded his head.

Ororo smiled. It was almost like working with Jean. Except she had a mindlink with everyone. And, well, she could actually speak.

"We should go get the Professor." Scott said.

"There's no need." Xavier told him, rolling in. "I'm right here." He stopped and Arabus walked over to him. For a long moment, the two just stared at each other. Then, Xavier commented, "His mind is almost as well developed as a human's."

"Can you talk to him, Chuck?" Logan asked.

Xavier shook his head. "No. He is still an animal, after all. But he should be able to lead you to the place where he lost contact with Samantha. And since I believe our companions are being held in a shielded facility, that could very well be where they all are. Can you give Ororo a general direction?"

Arabus nodded.

"All right." Xavier said. "Storm, Cyclops, prep the Blackbird and take off that way. Will you be able to lead from the sky?"

Arabus paused a moment, then nodded once more.

"Wolverine, Colossus, Zephyr, and Angel, get suited up and board the Blackbird. Rogue, suit up and go tell Elixir and Amp to put on their uniforms." Cyclops said.

"What, we're letting kids go into battles now?" Logan demanded.

"They'll stay on the plane, Logan." Cyclops told him. "We need Elixir to perform any emergency healing, and we need Amp to strengthen his power."

"Yeah, and look how well it worked last time we told the kids to stay on the plane." Logan muttered.

Rogue shifted uncomfortably. "They won't be able to get off, Logan, we'll lock down the plane. Elixir's got some piloting background, he can take off if there's any trouble."

"They're right, Logan." Xavier said. "Unfortunately, we may very well need Elixir's abilities."

Storm nodded her agreement, then looked over the group. "All right, X-men. Let's go get our people back."

The tip of Kurt's tail was twitching about erratically, but he didn't notice. Sometimes it seemed as if the thing had a mind of its own, at least when it came to random movements that Kurt had no idea it was doing. Really, though, it tended to be an extension of his emotions or thoughts. And Kurt wasn't exactly the most steady of people right now, so his tail was doing the twitching for him. He had his rosary loosely gripped in his right hand, and although he wasn't saying the prayers he was absently moving the beads with his thumb, twisting each one in turn.

His eyes were on Samantha and Cassandra, though. The two of them were standing facing each other, running through some kind of martial arts routine. Their movements were slow, fluid, and graceful, making what they were doing look like some combination of yoga and martial arts. Apparently it was a routine Logan had been teaching them. Kurt imagined it made them feel better to go through the motions, especially Cassandra.

Kurt's heart went out to her, being stuck in that verdammt cage with no one to keep her company. At least he had Samantha here. He wasn't entirely sure he would be functioning so well if he didn't have someone to remind him that he was here. Being caged like this was starting to bring back flashes of the last time he had been held against his will. He didn't remember much of it, mainly because his mind had been so completely im arsch. But he did remember where it had lead to, and Kurt didn't want anything like that to happen again.

But he had God on his side, so he could survive for a little while without being in contact with someone. Cassandra needed the distraction more than he did right now. And he knew that Samantha would be calmer from the routine, even though she had been slightly hesitant to let him go. It was the first time that she had done so since her failed attempt at charging the bars.

That reminded him of Anorra, and he glanced over at her briefly. She was still unconscious. Bobby's tee-shirt had been sacrificed to bandage Rachel's injuries, but Kurt doubted that the emotional wounds from what had taken place between Anorra and Rachel would be taken care of so easily. Fortunately, Rachel had managed to get to sleep. It might have had something to do with the fact that she was now in Bobby's cell. Bobby had gone back to leaning against the wall to sleep, but now Rachel was in his lap, leaning against his chest. His arms were around her waist, and both of their hands were entwined. Kurt couldn't help thinking that they looked cute like that.

Gambit caught him looking at the couple and sent him a wink before returning to his game of Solitaire. Kurt chuckled slightly, absently wishing he had thought to carry a deck of cards in one of his coat pockets. Of course, for Gambit, the cards were usually weapons. It just happened to be very handy that they could double as a source of entertainment during a situation like this.

He was jolted out of his thoughts, then, by Samantha's amused comment of, "Well, at least your tail's paying attention."

Kurt looked at her and discovered that his tail had wrapped itself around her ankle. He chuckled slightly, but left it there, asking, "Are you and Cassandra finished?"

"Yeah." Samantha said. "She said her mind refused to remember the moves anymore and she was going to try and go to sleep."

Kurt nodded. "Do you need to get some sleep, too?"

She shook her head. "Nah. I slept enough already." Her eyes flicked briefly over to Anorra.

He frowned at her. "Don't be ridiculous. There's nothing you could have done, especially not with the barrier."

"I know." She said softly. "I'm actually kind of grateful for the barrier right now."

Kurt blinked. "Why?"

She chewed on her lower lip for a moment. "A dragon may be a mythical animal, but it's still an animal. Not much of one, and Anorra's mostly human, but she still registers on whatever animal recognizing system I have. It's very small, and normally I don't get anything from her, but…panic's a really strong emotion. Especially when there are thousands of animals inside me whose instincts are telling me to respond the same way she did."

"Why did you?" Kurt asked.

"I'm not just predator." She said. "I'm prey. And prey don't usually fight. They run, they hide, they cling to each other. But most of them don't attack things. I guess…I guess the instincts are kind of fighting with each other."

He was silent for a moment, then he asked, "If you could have felt Anorra's panic, would you have done the same thing? Would you have attacked me?"

"I don't know." Samantha admitted quietly. "I would have fought it. But if Anorra got into my head, in enough panic to attack Rach, then…I might have. But you stopped me before. That's another thing I have. You."

"I have you, too." He said. "You're keeping me from dwelling on the past. On the last time I was in a situation like this."

"Stryker." Samantha said, then paused. "You don't think he's behind this?"

Kurt shook his head. "No. He's dead. And so is Jason."

"Jason?" She asked.

"He produced the serum that allowed Stryker to control minds." He said.

Kurt must have given away more of his feelings than he intended, because Samantha reached out to take his free hand. She didn't say anything, she just held his hand. For a long moment, they stayed quiet.

Then, Samantha asked, "Tell me about Germany?"

"What about it?" Kurt asked, amused.

"I dunno. Everything. Where were you born? How'd you get involved in the circus?" She asked.

"Well, I don't know where I was born." He said. "Margali found me when I was just a baby and took me in. She was a gypsy, and she traveled with a circus with Jimaine and Stefan. They were her children." He clarified. "Margali always treated me just like one of her children. Stefan and I were just like real brothers. We even took a blood oath when we were kids." Kurt said, a sad smile on his face. "Jimaine, though…I never saw her as a sister."

"What'd you see her as?" Samantha asked.

Kurt looked away.

"Oh." Samantha said. "Did you ever tell her how you felt?"

"No." He said. "She was in love with someone else. And it was…It was nothing, really. When I was old enough, I started training with the other trapeze artists. For awhile, I was the lead acrobat." Kurt said, a hint of pride showing through.

Samantha smiled. "Why'd you leave?"

Kurt seemed to deflate again.

"It's okay." Samantha said. "Don't worry about it. You can tell me when you're ready. Or, you know, not at all. Whatever works. So, um, since you shared, wanna hear my boring-ness?"

"I'm sure your childhood wasn't boring, Samantha." Kurt said, sending her a grateful smile.

"Oh, no. It's boring. I'm from Montana. My parents own a dude ranch. I grew up there, training horses with my older brother. And then later I got to lead trail rides and stuff. I went to a huge high school, though, because all the kids from three or four towns went there. And then I graduated and left for college." She said. She had glossed over some of her darker memories, but that was the gist.

"That doesn't sound boring." Kurt said. "It sounds fantastisch."

"You should come with me, next time I go visit." She said. "I think you'd like it."

Kurt smiled at her. "Dankeschön. Perhaps I will take you up on that offer."

"They're coming." Aleric said as he walked up next to him.

"Are they?" He asked absently. "How long has it been?"

"Just over two days." Aleric replied.

He leaned back in his chair. "Hmmm. Quicker than I thought. Xavier didn't break through already, did he?"

"No." Aleric replied. "We don't know how they found us. Are you sure you don't want me to make it harder for them?"

He shook his head. "No, I can't risk Xavier finding out about you. Let them come and get back what we took."

"Do you think any of them would be of use to us?" Aleric asked. "That one, it didn't take long in there for her to turn.

He frowned slightly. "Yes, I don't know why that happened. It goes against the rest of the data we have on her." He sighed. "It's becoming so hard for me to understand how their minds function. All of what they do is so insignificant." He gave another shake of his head, then tilted his head at Aleric. "The world would be a much better place if there were more like you."

Aleric glowed at the compliment and he smiled. It was just another way of keeping Aleric on his side. In truth, though, he meant it. Aleric was one of those few that were worthy enough to serve him. It was something to be proud of.

"You're lonely, aren't you Aleric?" He asked.

Aleric blinked at the subject change, then gave a very slight nod. "Will my brothers arrive soon?"

He leaned forward again. "Unfortunately, I can't see the future. But we have time, Aleric." He reached for the computer console, changing the screens so that each one showed a camera from a different part of the holding facility. "And we still have a lot to know."