After locking Toad into the isolation room, Scott went down the hall to the lab where the Professor was carefully examining the labels on bottles of pills. He leaned back against a counter and rubbed his forehead. "So why is he trusting us?"

Xavier looked up. "Right now he just wants a shower and a warm place to sleep. I think he's too tired for ideology. I think we all are, tonight."

He certainly looked tired to Scott. In fact, he looked like death warmed over. No surprise, thought Scott. He's only been forced to try to kill everyone on the planet. Scott hunched his shoulders up and pressed his forehead harder into his hands as he shied away from the memory of the awful, corrupted familiarity of the Professor's mental attack. He willed his shoulders to relax, but didn't lift his head. "You should go to bed Professor."

Xavier cut two bottles away from the flock on the counter and put them in his pocket. "So should you Scott."

"Well, I'll go to my room, but I can't promise I'll sleep." Scott met Professor Xavier's eyes and lifted one corner of his mouth; Xavier smiled faintly back at him. They had often made similar deals when Scott was a teenager. The words were like a comforting ritual now. After the past two days every little bit of comfort helped.

Scott continued to rub at his forehead while Xavier locked away the rest of the bottles and signed off the ones he had taken on the inventory clipboard and computer. Scott locked up behind them as they left the lab and they rode the elevator up together.

"Scott," Professor Xavier said quietly, "If something happens tonight you probably won't be able to fully rouse Jean and I. These are fairly powerfully sedatives." His head and his whole body were subtly twisted to the left, as if he could deny the bottles in his right pocket as well as his need for them.

Scott gazed dully at the blank elevator paneling. "I know. The…"

He swallowed. "I think the risk is minimal."

Professor Xavier nodded as the elevator softly chimed their arrival on the second floor. The two men parted, each toward his own room. At Scott's end off the hall Wolverine paused and nodded to him before stalking up the stairs to patrol the third floor.

"I'll see you in the morning Scott." The Professor's voice was soft but definite, and he knew there was no point to wishing the younger man a pleasant rest.