Thea didn't know how long she stayed there, staring at the closed door and crying her eyes out. Rarely did she cry. Rarely did she allow herself the luxury of dealing with the feelings bottled up inside. She hadn't always been like this – distant, bitter, and sarcastic. There was once a time she was cheerful and happy, like Jubilee, but that time ended when she was fourteen and she held her dead brother in her arms. There was once a time she was innocent to the ugliness the world had to offer, but that time ended when she was eighteen. Dr. Warren Worthington and his damned minions were monsters, and that was all there was to it. It only confused Thea more that his son seemed so…nice.

But that didn't matter. What mattered what that she let that bastard doctor control her life once again. Two years had passed and she still allowed him that power over her and her choices. She wanted to go with Kitty, to fight beside her best friend, but her fear of that man and all that he stood for did not allow her to make the choice she wanted to make. She didn't hate him so much as she hated herself. She hated her own weakness, and, even though she tried to hide it, how much it controlled her.

The crying subsided eventually and Thea still sat there, waiting for the jet's return, wondering if Kitty and Logan and the others would be alright. The Phoenix had killed Professor X, so the Phoenix could kill anyone…everyone.

She didn't know how long she drowned in her angst-filled thoughts, but eventually the door to the plane room opened. Thea got to her feet. The first person she saw was Kitty.

"Kitty!" she exclaimed with happiness, flinging her arms around her friend in a rare display of emotion.

"Thea," Kitty said, shock clearly evident in her voice.

Thea hoped her eyes were no longer red-rimmed and puffy. She didn't want Kitty to ask questions about why she had been crying.

"You've been waiting here the whole time?" Kitty asked.

Thea hesitated. How long had it been?

"Never mind. Listen, Thea…" Kitty began.

But Thea wasn't listening. All her attention was on the bleeding, bruised, and limping form of Warren Worthington III, who was being helped along by Hank.

"You went too?" she whispered in surprise, not really to Warren, but more to herself. Why was he so battered while everyone else seemed just a bit worse for wear?

"Thea, will you help him?" Kitty said.

Thea's attention went back to her friend after she watched Hank help Warren to the hospital wing.

"Are you hurt?" Thea asked, realizing there was blood on Kitty's hands.

"No," Kitty said, looking at her hands as well. "It's Warren's blood."

Thea rushed over to the hospital without another thought. Hank was placing Warren gently on his back on a metal table. The wing that was unharmed was open to its full extent, while the mangled one was hanging awkwardly off of the table.

Thea also caught sight of Logan putting the body of Jean Grey on another table and ran over to them. She felt for a pulse but found none.

"I can't…I can't help her," Thea said sadly, looking at the body of the beloved teacher who she never thought she would see again.

"I know, Alf," Logan said distantly.

Thea backed away from that table and went back to Warren. Storm was setting up machines to monitor his heartbeat.

"I got this," Thea said to her.

Storm looked at Thea critically. "Are you sure? We can…"

"I got this," Thea said again, more forcefully.

Storm backed away and allowed Thea access to Warren's table.

"Hey," Warren mumbled.

"You're an idiot," she replied, assessing the wounds on his chest and hoping they were superficial. There was just so much blood. Practically every part of his chest was various shades of red.

"I was hoping for a hello, but that works too."

"This is the second time I'm healing you in two days. I've only known you for two days. Absolutely ridiculous," Thea muttered irritably. How could someone lose so much blood and still be conscious enough to be a smartass?

"You don't have to..."

"Shut up, I need to concentrate," Thea replied, cutting him off. Sure she didn't have to, but she was going to.

Warren looked like he wanted to retort, but he didn't as soon as her warm hands touched his chest.

Thea could sense minor internal bleeding and a fractured rib. It was quite interesting, but Warren's bones were hollow, like a bird's. He wasn't lying when he said he was part bird. Alright, cells, time to make Warren all better, she thought. Every time she healed someone, it was an art - accelerating the growth of certain cells and thus healing the tissues and the organs delicately.

When Thea thought she had completed her work on his chest, she grabbed a towel and wetted it with warm water. She washed the dried blood from his chest and examined her work.

If Thea was honest with herself, she would say that healing Warren was her best healing job to date. Her work was good, it was always good, but the patient was…okay, he was attractive. She almost felt bad because she couldn't heal away the discoloration from the new skin on his chest. His chest just looked…nice. It wasn't chiseled like an Exacto knife had etched out a six pack into his skin, but honestly Thea found that look intimidating. Warren's chest was…warm…smooth…toned…and…nice.

"Althea, you're staring," Warren teased lightly.

Thea startled for a moment before changing her attention to his beaten face. His split lower lip was upturned in a smirk. His eyes, well, eye, since his left eye was swollen shut from a punch, was glistening with amusement.

She put the bloodied rag aside. "You're talking. Clearly you have a problem listening to people," she replied.

"Yeah, and clearly you have a problem admitting you were checking me out," Warren retorted with an easy smile.

She ignored him, unwilling to admit how much he unnerved her.

Her touch was gentle and deliberate. Her fingers touched his upper cheek and the swelling and bruise faded. Her fingers touched his bottom lip, and it healed. Warren licked his lip and smiled up at Thea, but thankfully did not say anything.

She crouched down to assess the damage to his wing and cringed. It was literally in tatters. "Shit…" she mumbled.

"Bear claws," Warren replied.

She placed her hand gently on his wing, but Warren hissed and his wings bristled.

"Sorry," she said softly.

"No, I'm just being a wuss," he replied.

A wuss wouldn't have gone to Alcatraz in the first place. Thea knew Warren was no wuss.

"Idiot," she mumbled again.

Placing her hand once more on his wing, she began the process of reattaching the membrane. When that was finally done, she accelerated the growth of the epidermis cells with keratin proteins so that the feathers he had lost grew back.

She rose from her crouched position to look at Warren. "Anything else?" she asked.

Warren sat up and slid off the table to stand on his feet, only to crumple over Thea. She caught him quickly around his bare torso and propped him up against the side of the metal table he was just laying on. His body was warm and firm and soft all at the same time. Thea tried really hard not to blush.

"I forgot about the ankle," Warren replied sheepishly as he looked at Thea's hands on his side.

Thea nodded and kneeled down, placing a hand on the ankle to heal the strain. Getting up again, she asked, "Anything else hurt?"

Warren shook his head, now able to stand on his own. "Nothing but my pride," he said, a bit of self-deprecation seeping through. He folded his wings behind his back and shifted his weight from side to side.

Thea backed away from him, taking a deep breath. "So what happened?" she asked, looking at Warren, Kitty, Peter and Hank. At some point during her administrations to Warren, Wolverine and Storm had left the hospital.

"Human soldiers were using the Cure as a weapon, Magneto had hundreds of angry mutants around, Warren saved his father's life, I got Jimmy out or the building, Peter threw Wolverine at Magneto as a distraction while Hank injected him with the Cure, then we all retreated because the Phoenix was out of control. Wolverine stayed behind and…killed her," Kitty summarized.

Thea quickly processed the information. "You used the Cure as a weapon?" she asked, directing her attention to Hank.

"It was the only way to stop Magneto," Hank defended.

"But…you guys are the X-men. You stand for justice and all that other heroic stuff. The Cure, it was supposed to be a choice," Thea said.

"Thea..." Hank began.

"No. You know Magneto. You guys gave him a fate worse than death. You made him what he hates, and you think you did the right thing?" Thea said, disdain evident in her voice.

She could see Kitty, Bobby and Peter shift around uneasily. Warren look perplexed.

Hank frowned deeply. His stance was proud, and Thea had to remind herself that he had been a government official and a brilliant scientist. "You weren't there, Thea. You don't know the circumstances we were in. It was our call to make, and I stand by it," he said firmly.

Thea knew he had a point, but that didn't make her point any less valid. Then again, Thea's views on the Cure were a bit biased - she hated it.

"I just think the wrong person died today," she said quietly.

If Wolverine was able to get close enough to the Phoenix to kill her, he was close enough to the Phoenix to give her the Cure and stop the madness. Jean Grey could have been alive. Jean Grey wouldn't have thought being human was the hell that Magneto thought it was.

Hank looked to the floor, unable to give Thea a response.

But Thea felt guilty the minute she uttered those words. Even though she believed them, she had no right to pass this type of judgment onto the group of heroic people who risked their lives for the sake of others. It was far more than she could ever do, and yet here she was criticizing them.

Deeply ashamed, Thea turned around to exit the hospital, when a wave of dizziness hit her. She swayed uneasily, and just when she though she was going to fall flat on her ass, she felt herself being supported around the waist.

"Are you alright?" Warren asked, concern evident in his voice.

She had been so pumped up on adrenaline when she saw Kitty come back and Warren injured, and when she gave her tirade about the X-Men's actions, that she had forgotten how exhausted she got from healing.

"Yeah," Thea said, feeling the full effects of total exhaustion permeate her body.

"Let me take you to your room," Warren said.

"No, I'm fine," Thea insisted.

"C'mon, Thea, stop being a stubborn ass," Kitty said, coming up to Thea.

"Fine," Thea relented without much struggle.

Thea turned back around to face Hank, who still had a very severe expression on his face.

"Dr. McCoy, I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to say those things. You all were heroes today," Thea said, swallowing her pride and looking at Hank.

Hank's eyes leveled with her. "Your points are completely valid, Thea. But we, after all, are fallible creatures," he said, his voice heavy with sadness.

She nodded thoughtfully and was escorted out of the room by Kitty and Warren. She insisted that she could walk, so Kitty and Warren walked behind her. The ride on the elevator and the walk to her room was silent.

When they finally reached her door, Warren looked a bit uncomfortable. "Thanks," he said awkwardly. "Again. I owe you one, no, two," he added.

Thea smiled slightly. "I'll remember that."

"Get some rest," Kitty said.

"Yes, Mom. You too," Thea teased.

Kitty smiled and pushed Thea into the room, closing the door after her.

Thea collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.


Author's Note: Kudosto those of you who thought Thea would help Warren out! Thanks so much for the reviews and for the support. I'm glad people like the story. Thea is not from the comics, she is a character I created. It means a lot to me that people find her real. Please review!