Wanda shut the door behind us, and Tabby turned to face us both. It was clear she had heard everything, and was wondering if it was true. I nodded at her, and she let out a breath. "Wow. Talk about crazy. Well, c'mon I'll take you to where you're supposed to go."

"Wait," Wanda said, biting her lip. "Can we make one quick stop first? I made a promise to someone…" she trailed off, but I knew she was talking about her promise to Lance. Tabby gave her a puzzled look. "Can you show me to Kitty's room?"

"Kitty's room? Why?" Tabby asked her.

"Lance drove us here, 'n it's what he asked for in return," I told her. She rolled her eyes, but didn't seem surprised.

"Yeah ok, she's in the same hall as us anyways. Except for you Toad; you'll be to the right when Wanda and I have to take a left here in a sec," she said as she started walking down the hallway to the right of the professor's study. We didn't say much as we walked, both from all of us being exhausted from need of sleep, and from not really knowing what to say. Finally we arrived at where I was supposed to depart from them, but Wanda stopped me by putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Could you come with me, just to talk to Kitty?" she asked me.

"Kitty doesn't like me any more 'n she likes you," I responded. "Or Tabby for that matter," I added when Tabs smirked.

"I know," Wanda sighed. "But I'd feel better, all the same." I shrugged and followed them down the hall to a door that Tabby knocked on. We waited a few minutes, but no one answered. Tabby knocked again, and again there was silence. I closed my eyes and tuned up my hearing ability, to sense if there was anyone in the room. I listened for breathing, a heartbeat, any movement at all and found none.

"No one's in there, yo."

"Whadda you mean? She's gotta be in there, no way she'd be up this early." Tabby swung the door open to reveal what I had already predicted; an empty room.

"Where would she be?" asked Wanda, and for a minute Tabby looked confused. Then, something darker crossed her face.

"Oh," she said, and yanked the door shut as she turned back to face us. "I know where she is alright. I shoulda guessed." She jerked her head down the hallway that I was supposed to have taken, the one with the guy's rooms. Wanda looked confused; she wasn't used to being kept in the loop with everyone's love triangles. She had spent so much time dwelling on only Magneto that she never bothered to get involved with those around her. Me on the other hand, I knew that Kitty would be with Nightcrawler in his room, and I knew why Tabby looked so bitter.

"Maybe we should jus' leave it for now, 'n talk to her in the morning," I suggested. Tabby had her arms crossed over her chest, trying to look angry in an attempt to hide the hurt I knew she was feeling. Wanda on the other hand just looked confused. Before she could say anything, Tabby interjected.

"No, we should talk to her now. You made a promise, didn't you Wanda? 'N a girl has got to keep to her word. C'mon I know which room she's in." With that she stomped in the opposite direction. Wanda and I hesitated, but then she started to follow Tabs.

"Uh-oh," I said under my breath, knowing this wasn't about to be a great conversation. It was too short of a walk for my taste before we were standing in the boy's corridor with Tabby banging on one of the doors. We heard noises from inside, but Tabby only gave them a second before she popped one of her explosives in the key hole which blew the door in.

"Oops," she said, leaning against the door frame. "Hey Kitty, got someone here who needs to talk to you," she said dryly. There was a squeal from the dark room as Kitty lunged to wrap a white sheet around her, and a poof of blue smoke that resulted in Nightcrawler disappearing.

"What the fuck Tabitha! Like, what the hell is wrong with you?" Kitty demanded as she finished wrapping herself in the sheet and stood up. Tabby gave her a wolfish grin.

"Well, we couldn't find you in your room, so I came to the next logical place," she said innocently but there was a bite in her voice. Kitty was about to fire something back, but then the plural of 'we' hit her, and she looked past Tabby to spot Wanda and I.

"The Brotherhood is here?" she exclaimed and lurched backwards, I guess expecting some kind of attack from us.

"No, stupid," Tabby chastised her. "Just Wanda and Toad, and they're here under Professor X's protection. Wanda needs to talk to you." Tabby flicked on the light, which caused Kitty to blink and put her hand up.

"Wanda…? What's she doing here? And this couldn't have, like, waited until tomorrow?" she demanded angrily.

"No," Wanda said coldly, stepping up before Tabitha could come up of a retort of her own. "It couldn't. The only reason I'm doing this is for Lance, not you, you should know that." Kitty's eyes widened at Lance's name, but Wanda didn't let her say anything. "He has information about something big that Magneto's planning, and it's not good. He said it's going to get ugly for everyone. For some reason, he offered you protection, if you want it. He said that if things get out of hand, for you to leave some symbol in 'your spot,' and that he'd come get you out as soon as you did. He said he would protect you." Kitty soaked all of this in, then brought her eyebrows together.

"Fine, I got your message, now get out," she told us. Wanda glowered at her, which made Kitty take a step back and inhale in surprise.

"I don't know why Lance is offering you this chance, when it goes against his own protection and probably violates Magneto's own commands, but he did it for you. I don't pretend to understand why he loves a selfish little brat like you, but he does. He cares more about you than you will ever know, and you throw that away like it's nothing. He's risked his life countless times for you, and still you discard him like he's trash. Get your shit together, and clear the stars out of those little eyes of yours. He's better than you deserve." With that Wanda slammed the door behind her, leaving Kitty alone with those words. Both Tabby and I were openly gawking at her. "What?" she demanded of us.

"It's just…" Tabby started, then looked at me to finish.

"Well, we didn't know…well that you knew, about any of that. Let alone that you cared." Wanda sighed and shrugged one shoulder.

"I'm not stupid, and I do have eyes and ears. Lance risked everything to bring both of us here tonight, and I don't pretend to think that it was for us. It was the only way to make sure that his message would get to Kitty. It says a lot. And…well… I guess I know what a bitch move it is, to ignore someone like that." Her sapphire eyes found mine, and instantly I forgot how to bring air into my lungs. She offered me a gentle smile and I felt my heart melt into a puddle.

"Wow," I heard Tabby say, which had both Wanda and I looking at her. Instead of answering our unspoken question, she shook her head at us. "Never mind. Uh, Toad? The guest room is the last one on the right," she said, turning to gesture behind her and point her finger at a specific door. "I'll take Wanda to my room. I've had an extra bed ever since Amara got her own room. We'll be great roomies," she told me with a wink. Wanda looked uneasy, but I smiled at her.

"It'll be ok," I told her. "Tabby's room is prob'ly one of the safest ones here: no one wants to prank someone who could blow them up, or get 'em back a-hundred times worse," I reasoned which had Tabby beaming. She could tell that Wanda still had hesitations though, so she looked between the two of us before taking a few steps back.

"Uh, I'll wait at the end of the hall if you guys need ta talk or anything," she said and I gave her a grateful look. We waited until she was out of ear shot, then Wanda stepped towards me so that she could lower her voice even further.

"Toad," she started in a worried tone so I took her hand in mine. She looked down at this action, seemingly still getting used to it, then back up to me. "Do you trust this?" she asked me.

"The mansion is the safest place for you right now. It's our best bet. And Tabs…I trust her with my life. 'N she knows how much you mean to me. I wouldn't have picked anyone else to watch over you, if I can't do it myself." Wanda frowned at this, and I rolled my eyes. Her pride was such a touchy thing. "I know you can watch out for yourself, yo. But it makes me feel better that Tabs has your back, just in case." That seemed to satisfy her as she let out an exhale and relaxed her shoulders. "Now go get some rest." I went to turn around, but she tightened her hold on my hand which stopped me.

"Toad?" I looked up at her, and she seemed shy for a minute. "Um. Thank you."

"For what?" I asked her, tilting my head to the side.

"For…well, everything. For staying with me, for always being there… you didn't have to come here. You could have stayed at the House, it was safe for you there. Much safer than it is here." I knew I wasn't one of the x-men's favorite people, but I shrugged.

"I told you Wanda; I'm yours. I'm with you for as long as you'll have me, wherever that takes me. I don't care where I am, as long as I'm there with you." I meant it as a simple fact of truth, but she was blinking quickly like I had said something that hit home with her. An instant later her full, red lips were bushing against mine which shut down any thought process I had going at the moment. My throat closed in an attempt to suffocate me and the puddle that had been my heart felt like it had melted into ice that dripped down into my stomach and froze there. Too soon she was pulling away, and I tried to force the fog out of my brain so that I could make my mouth work.

"Thank you, again," she was telling me as she let go and retreated a few steps. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Mhhhm," was all I was able to respond with, since words weren't yet accessible to my misty mind. Before I could start breathing normally again, both she and Tabby were gone, down their hall and in Tabby's room, leaving me standing alone in the hallway still feeling the impression her lips had left on mine. I let out a wistful sigh and turned to enter my room, crashing on a bed that I barely noticed and closing my eyes. The last thing I thought before I drifted off to sleep was Please don't let this all be a dream.