Thank you all so much for the great feedback! Seems like Charles did good with his proposal ;)

So so so sorry this update is over a week late without prior warning! Forgot I had friends visiting from overseas, then RL kept kicking me in the lady parts! With work building up, I'm going to aim for an update every fortnight. Please also note rating of this has gone up (ya know, just in case I sneak in a few moments of M and above moments)

Not as much actual teen!Charles in this chapter as I had hoped, again a chapter of plot setting. I do plan on sending Charles into an teenage emotional and hormonal roller coaster ride next and coming chapters! So please do bear with me for now ;)

BTW, if it wasn't clear before, Charles' age in the chapter title is his age at the end of the chapter unless otherwise stated.

"Are you absolutely sure? He could have manipulated him withou-"

"I'm very thorough, Erik."

Emma snapped back with an icy glare. She was not going to be second guessed by the man about her competence regarding a full mental scan. Something he had forced her to triple check.

Erik had be pacing back and forth behind her, stopping constantly to watch over her shoulder, crowding into her space. It's rare, if ever, to see him so physically unsettled, and undoubtedly it was with good reason. He had insisted on Emma conducting the mind sweep, first thing the following morning, into Cain Marko to determine whether or not he was under the influence of Nathaniel Essex. She too was rattled by the unlikely coincidence of the night's events, but his mind was completely free of Sinister's painfully sharp telepathic presence. With his personality, Emma was certain he does nothing without leaving a signature.

"But you havefound something."

He knew Emma well enough now to read her so called stony expressionless face. It was always ever so subtle, but he can tell that she had found something in Marko's mind. Something that troubled her. Which in itself was a scary thought.

"...his mind does have traces of being corrupted by telepathy..."

Erik stopped his agitated pacing at once. She was hesitant to tell him more, further piquing his attention and anxiety.

"And?"

"I could trace the telepathic influence to his teens.."

Erik closed his eyes and cursed under his breath.

"I sensed no other telepath to have entered his mind till Jean last night."

The two then looked solemnly at the man still kept in deep sleep on the thoroughly destroyed ground. They both had the same questions spearing through their minds.

What happened between Charles Xavier and Cain Marko.

Well, whatever happened between them will be relived by Charles very soon, and Erik just hoped none of the residents in the mansion will be caught in the possible crossfire.

"..."

"Hey... Hank. You're finally awake. Are you in pain?"

Raven had been sitting at Hank's bedside since Charles and the other children were safely tucked into bed. It was now late afternoon the following day, and the only time she had reluctantly left Hank's side was because Azazel had asked Charles to convince her to get a bit of food and rest.

The physician that had came in stated Hank's injuries were the most severe compared to Alex and Sean, but miraculously the man had never seen cell regeneration and recovery at such alarming speed. Raven had to give Emma props for the number she did on the doctor. She didn't make it so that the human didn't see Hank's blue fur or rolled back golden eyes, but it was as if mutant patients were as common as a flu vaccine.

With the aid of the medical equipment Hank had set up in the extension to the laboratory, primarily to do physicals on Charles, the doctor was able to conduct extensive examinations on all three of the men, not to mention the children and those who were at Hellfire.

When Hank's eyes regained focus, he had to do a double take to make sure he was not dreaming.

"..Ra-Raven? W-where am I? You're in m-my room?"

Hank tried to sit up, but his muscles where not cooperating with his brain, and he only managed to lift his head a few inches off his pillow before a rush of blood flow made him wheezy.

"Stop! You shouldn't move about just yet."

"H-how long have I been out? Scott! Ch-Charles and Jean? I-is everyone safe!?"

"Shhh... Yes, everyone's safe... You've been asleep for around twenty hours. I-I saw through Charles' memories... you saved Scott, and you did everything you could to protect my brother and Jean. Thank you."

"But it wasn't enough. We weren't strong enough. He was just one person, and one of us could stop him. The children shouldn't have needed to fear for their lives. If you all hadn't arrived back-"

"It was Jean who stopped him. Her secondary mutation manifested. It's telekenesis."

Hank's yellow eyes widened in awe, reflecting the soft lighting, making them glow like yellow topaz.

"That's incredible! It must have been her who was loosened those screws... I had thought it was..."

"...it was what?"

"N-nothing. My mind was playing tricks. H-how is Alex and Sean? They were injured."

"Sean has a few broken ribs, but most of his injuries were to the skull. Emma's done a scan, he's fine now. He woke up a few hours ago. Alex has a broken arm and leg, he's been trying to get out of bed, but Scott has more or less tied him down. You had it worst, but your mutation allows for really quick recovery."

The beast shied away from looking into Raven's eyes for a moment, only to notice the faint cuts on her skin.

"You're injured? Tough mission?"

He doesn't miss Raven wince.

"Yeah... I'm beginning to realize how naive both Charles and Erik may be. But that's a talk we'll have another time. You need to get some food in you-"

"I think you're the reason I'm still alive."

Raven had gotten up out of her seat and was about to leave the room to heat up some soup for him.

"What?"

"I-I never apologized to you... for what I said to you before Cuba. I was afraid and ashamed. I shouldn't have forced that on to you. You're cells have forced me to accepted me for myself. You're cells are also the reason why I can heal faster. I'm sor-"

Raven placed a finger to Hank's lips.

"Don't apologize. Not now."

She removed her finger and gave Hank a gentle, barely there kiss on the lips.

"Ugh... thank you?"

Raven laughed aloud, and told Hank she'll be right back with some food and water. She doesn't notice Azazel leaning in the shadows, watching them through the open door.

Logan turned up around a week after Cain. The second he stepped up to the front doors, he knew something was off. The doors were obviously a rushed temporary replacement, no longer the large elegant oak double doors, but thick slabs of wielded metal. His keen instincts told him something bad had happened, but it was probably safe for now, nonetheless it didn't stop him from heading out to the bark yard first as a precaution. When he rounded to the back, Sean and Janos where there doing some yard work. Sean's head was wrapped up, and Logan could see the bandages showing from his collar.

Janos was the first to notice him, and pointed him out to Sean.

"Logan! Good to see you. We've not been to the shops lately, you might have trouble finding the foo-"

"Where do you want me?"

Sean's shoulders slouched down in relief, his face was one of pure gratefulness.

"The yard's looking pretty good now if you turn a blind eye to the refilled grass-less patches. I think they'll need another pair of hands down in Cerebro though... Also, Hank may want to see you about getting a sample of the Adamantium in your body, and Alex said you wanted to in on designing a 'Danger Room'?"

When Janos walked closely passed Logan, the larger man's sharp nose picked up a scent hidden under the layer of ocean scented cologne. A scent that made Logan's hair stand, his claws itching to lash out between his knuckles. He managed to contain his claws unleashed, but not a threatening growl.

Creed.

"Bub, we need to talk first."

It's been ten days since Alex had stepped into a shower. With his left arm and leg broken and in casts, Scott had ordered his brother to stay in bed, and he's been wiping himself down with wet towels. The only time he's been allowed out of bed was for the toilet, and even then Scott demanded the door be left open just in case.

Alex will admit, he is overwhelmingly proud of how Scott handled himself that night and since. He didn't ever want to be in a position to be taken cared for my his baby brother, but Scott has really stepped up and taken responsibility, no matter now over bearing and over dramatic he is at the moment.
But, he can reminisce about all this later. Right now, it's finally time for a nice, long, relaxing, dirt cleansing, muscle soothing, hot, steaming shower.

Holy shit holy shit holy shit shit shit shit shit...

"Hank!"

The blonde man practically skidded on his good feet into the laboratory where he knew Hank would be, good hand flapping about wildly. Also, in his rush, his damp towel fell off his waist, and thus he stood stark naked, dripping wet, with plastic bags covering his casts.

"Hank! There's a ghost in the house!"

A well used pen fell out of the blue beast's large hands while he rushed to grab the extra lab coat hanging by the wall.

"Ugghhh... here, put this on."

Alex rolled his eyes and batted the white coat away.

"Didn't you hear me!? A ghost! A fucking ghost that talked to me! Warned me about Marko after my shower. A God damn perverted ghost, Hank! What do we do? What do you know about getting rid of ghosts? What's it called? Exportism?"

"Exorcism."

"Yes, that! What do we need? A priest? A cross? I don't know if there a bible here-"

"I have to admit there has been some odd occurrences happening-"

"Right!?"

"I had thought it was Jean's telekenesis... but what you're describing just doesn't fit."

"So it's a fucking ghost then!"

"...have you felt 'it' since?"

"No... not since that night... you think Marko somehow killed the ghost?"

"I think we need to talk to Jean or Charles."

~x~

"You mean No Name?"

"Ugh what?"

Alex finally put some clothes on, and the two men were gathered in the study with the four children. Scott would probably have looked bewildered at the whole conversation if he wasn't too busy fussing over his brother. The three other children, however, looked at them like they didn't know how to use a fork.

"No Name. Well, he doesn't remember his name, so we started calling him No Name."

"He!? It's a he now? When were you guys going to tell us about this No Name?"

"What is No Name? A mutant or...?"

"We're not quite sure... Charles and I haven't been able to access his mind. It's sort of blocked somehow. He also doesn't remember much... but..."

"But?"

Charles picked up when Jean seemed to be unable to continue to describe things.

"He said he found us because he think he knew my mind, and he knew you both, as well as Sean, Raven, Eric... and Angel. But I always feel this pain and guilt when he talks about Angel."

"Oh! And he doesn't seem to like Azazel or Janos very much..."

Holy shit. Can it really be? Can he really adapt to overcome death?

Hank looked like he was connecting the dots, and Alex could see the moment when the beast figured it out when his vividly colored fur stood on its roots. Alex tried to bend down to meet Charles and Jean at eye level, but his cast-up leg meant he could only dip down a few painful inches.

"D-do you we can talk to him?"

"...well.. we haven't felt him since t-that night with the man."

No.. no no no...

Alex felt nauseous and his good leg buckled, but Hank and Scott managed to hold him upright.

Hank prayed that he might be just recuperating. He now believes that it was hewho helped unbolt Cain's helmet, allowing for Jean to take it off with her telekenesis.

"If anyone feels his presence or odd things begin to occur around the mansion again, please let either Alex or I know."

"Miss MacTarggert... y-yes, everything is fine here, thank you. How are thing on your side?"

"Well, I'm calling to tell you some possible good news. It's been arranged for a few inspectors to visit Westchester at the end of the week. If they give the green light, I can arrange for the application get onto the fast-track, which means the institute will be official in two weeks, a month tops."

"That's great news! Thank you! How's Warren? Will we have enough time?"

Moira sighed into the speaker and Sean can just see her massaging the bridge of her nose.

"Things remain the same with Warren, but I've heard the Worthingtons have finished selecting a number of top surgeons around the world, once the non-disclosure agreements are signed it will be a matter when they can all fly in. I was wondering if you could begin your part of the plan with convincing them about the institute."

"Yes, of course! We may be able to have someone over today."

"R-really?... Okay, I trust you Mr. Cassidy. I'm not quite sure why... but I do."

For a little under a month, Cain Marko had been kept under a sort of mental daze. His memories of his powers and manifestation had been temporarily erased, or so Emma had assured Erik before she had left to work on the Worthingtons with Raven and Sean.

In the past month, Erik had tried to get to know Marko, and the man turned out to be a painful reflection of himself. Too much focused and shortsighted rage. However, all this rage seemed to be directed at the one person Erik could not fathom how.

"Tell me about Charles Xavier."

Marko tensed, his features twitched in disgust at the name.

"And what do you want to know about that little shit?"

"Why you want him dead for starters."

Marko barked out a dry sour laugh.

"I don't want him dead. I want him to suffer like how he made me suffer. I want him whipped to an inch of his life then I'll let him heal so I can fucking do it all over again."

"...he tortured you?"

"No. Good old papa had that honor."

"Then why-"

"Because my own father loved his step son more. Because Charles fucking Xavier was fucking perfect. Because Charles fucking Xavier is a fucking fraud. Because Charles fucking Xavier made me murder my own fucking father."

Erik felt his head sway and his blood turn to ice.

And all too late did Erik feel the the soft hum of iron molecules gathered outside the slightly open doors of the one of the bunker's enclosed extensions.

Charles.

Snapshot: Day at the Zoo

Charles, aged 2 years and 20 weeks

I've promised IberisGalloway (FF) for more snapshots following The Proposal, but I haven't had proper time to work on that yet, so here's a snapshot that was already in the pipeline.

Haven't been to the Bronx Zoo (since the only part of the US I've been to is Hawaii :D), so I'm making everything up. And a bit of RPF fun in here too!

It was an unusually sunny and comfortably cool mid-autumn's day. Perfect weather to take Charles and the kids out for a day at the zoo. It was only the four of them though, with Ororo opting out of the trip, since she couldn't bear the sight of caged animals on display. She understood that zoos have done a good amount of work to save and help animals, and that those particular animals are probably safer there than released into the wild. But she still cannot stomach the sight.

Jean, on the other hand had shyly begged to go, since she's heard so much about the place. Scott had tagged along too, much to the blushing delight of Jean, because he wanted to delay the inevitable one-on-one training Logan had been threatening with a horrifyingly crazy eyed smirk.

"Charles! ! It's your favorite! Teddies! !"

Jean had ran up ahead of them and came back all aglow with excitement.

At the mention of teddies, Charles chubby arms, snuggly covered in fluffy mittens flailed and flapped about in abundant vigor. The little boy tried to tilt his head back to look up at Erik, but one of the thick floppy ears on his beanie slid down and obstructed his view, and Erik was treated to Charles' familiar breathless snort-chuckling with moments of confusion thrown in.

The bears must be one of the main attractions and hoards of people were already gathered with large flash cameras at the ready and children propped atop of father's shoulders. Erik gathered Charles tightly into his arms, and told Scott to keep a closer eye on Jean. With great effort, Erik managed to cut a path open for them to go right up to the front row, just in time to see a magnificent silver-brown grizzly stand upright and sniffing the air, right in their direction.

"Look, Charles! It's huge! !"

Charles who had been staring in awe at the sea of people from the vantage point of Erik's sturdy shoulder quickly snapped his head around, the flap of his hat smacking right into Erik's head. His blue eyes were bright and searching, and they remained all too wide when they landed on the animal in question.

If eye's were windows into a person's soul, then Charles' eyes were certainly windows into his thinking. Every twitch and every blink was an indication of the synapses going off in this brain. And right now, the boy's brows were loudly declaring something was very wrong. Not a second later, Charles let out a ear blistering wail, and the water works began.

"Charles!? What's wrong? It's a bear, no need to be afraid, my maus. It won't hurt you, not when I'm here."

The boy only wailed louder, accidentally, or not, projecting into every single mind within a mile radius the confusion and disappointment that the so called 'teddy' was not a super intelligent blue furred being with otherworldly luminous golden eyes and tiny spectacles to aid him in his mad scientific experiments.

"Oh maus... Th-this is what a real bear looks like. Teddy is.. well, Teddy. Special. One of a kind."

The tears finally stopped flowing when they reached the glass display Charles was currently half splayed over.

"Pooooweeeezzzz~~"

As if Charles' puppy eyes weren't enough, the combined forces of Jean and Scott's pleading eyes, through his opaque red lenses no less, was a force that should be harnessed and used for world domination. Erik was certain this was Scott's secondary mutation.

The ice cream vendor looked at Erik with understanding and sympathy. He must witness this behavior all day.

~x~

The children were all quietly savoring their ice cream while sitting at a large picnic table, inclusive of large white and red umbrellas for shade.

"Hello, may we share the table?"

A tall lithe man with golden curls and a warm, easy smile walked up and gestured at the empty space on the other end of the large table. A small boy of around six with light ginger hair was using one of the man's arms as a swing, while his other arm awkwardly maneuvered an expensive looking stroller. With hidden reluctance, Erik gave a curt nod in wordless assent.

"Michael, come sit down here with me. I'm Tom, that's Michael and this little one is James. You're a sitter too?"

Tom sat a little closer than necessary next to Erik to allow room for Michael but the little boy refused to sit down where he was asked, and ran up to squeeze himself between Jean and Scott, earning him a rare glare from Jean. Erik held his breath for the inevitable onslaught of Charles' potty mouth, but to the utter dismay of Erik, Jean and Scott, Charles remained hard at work on eating ice cream one wobbly but determined spoonful at a time, not even bothering to eye out the new faces.

Figures that ice cream is more important than my virtue.

"Tom! I want ice cream too! What flavor's that?"

The boy poked his head right up against Jean's cup and studied it with envy.

"...strawberry."

"What's yours then? I like your glasses! Tom! Can I get red glasses too? It'll go with my hair!"

"Err...thanks.. It's chocolate by the way."

"Okay Michael, let the nice people eat their ice cream in peace and perhaps then I'll get you some. I'm so sorry. Michael has quite the motor mouth."

Micheal ignored his guardian and stood up on the bench chair so that he could look over Erik's cup of steaming black coffee. At the sight of the black liquid, the boy's large blue-green eyes looked up into Erik's face as if the man was six feet worth of stupidity.

"Mister, your ice cream's all melted. You shoulda eaten it while it was still cold. What flavor did you get?"

The boy tilted his head at Charles, his voice softening ever so slightly as he asked the smaller boy who was busy stuffing his mouth with a spoonful of ice cream.

"Yum! !"

Charles beamed back at Michael, mouth slick with melted vanilla ice cream, his brows reaching his hairline to emphasize just how delicious his snack was. Michael blushed a little bit and smiled back.

"Tom! ! ! I want some yum too! Let's go! ! Please! ! !"

Michael's guardian had been busy trying to feed the tiny baby in his arms.

"You're going to have to wait until I finish-"

"Uhhh... he's already run off."

"Oh Shit! Shit I did not just swear in front of you all! C-could you please help me finish feeding James? He's not fussy at all. I-I'll be right back! I'm so terribly sorry! Thank you so much! Michael! !"

Tom sort of shoved James and his bottle into Erik's hands, and ran off after Michael. Erik was left mouth open in disbelief and a tiny blue eyed baby who was flailing his arms at the bottle that was no longer in his mouth. Before the baby had a chance to notice the change in surroundings, Erik quickly returned the bottle at the baby's mouth, and James kicked his tiny legs in thanks.

"He looks just like you Charles!"

At Jean's comment Charles snaps out of his ice cream daze and peers around the table to see what she was referring to. Charles' little jaw nearly breaks off, and his small plastic spoon clatters onto the wooden bench top at the sight he found. Erik was holding, feeding and smiling fondly down at a not-Charles-baby, and the boy was having none of that.

Erik felt an eager tug at his leather jacket. He turned to face Charles who had his mouth smooshed together in tight fishy lips, patiently waiting for Erik to bottle feed him too.

"Maus, this is James' bottle. You have your ice cream."

The boy frowned and tugged harder at his jacket, head tilted towards the now untouched ice cream cup, silently telling Erik to hand feed him ice cream, his mouth was still pouted out.

"I'll be with you in a moment, maus."

Charles' expression was as if Erik had cheated on him and poured the ice cream down his pants at the same time. Never in the history of living beings had a glare of such intensity been witnessed.

"Charles! Bad boy! James is just a little baby, you must not glare at him. You're older than him, you must set a better example, like Jean, Ro and Scott does."

The boy's epic pout and watery eyes let everyone know he didn't want anything to do with setting a good example, not when Erik's attention was on the line. Charles climbed on to the bench seat, and forced himself an opening onto Erik's lap, right up into the space of his current nemesis. James noticed the new addition of warmth and kicked his legs in glee, only for Charles' angry face to be on the receiving end of an extra high leg flick.

"E-Erie..."

"No, Charles. I know it didn't hurt."

Charles scowled and side glared at the sack of wiggling flesh again.

"No! Erie mine! !"

"Charles! It's only for a moment, you have to be a good boy until the man comes back."

"No! No wanna sharing! No Erie sharing! Mine! My Erie mine! !"

Charles attempted to bat Erik's hands away from James, but James' bitty hands caught on to Charles' only slightly larger hand and clutched on tightly, swinging it about triumph. It was possibly the cutest thing happening in the world that moment. It was also enough to shock Charles into an almost involuntary chuckle.

"He likes you, maus. Can you be a good bigger brother to him?"

Bright blue eyes meets even brighter blue eyes, and Charles slides closer to James, his free hand reaching to help Erik feed James his bottle.

"'ma good brolla!"

Not a moment later Tom runs back to the table after Micheal, who got himself a large scoop of vanilla ice cream and once again squeezed himself between the two older children.

"Thank you so much! I hope James wasn't too much trouble. Oh! Hey there, looks like James has taken a shine to you, big guy."

Charles offers Tom a small distracted smile without taking his eyes off James' small hand still waving around his. Tom settles down beside Erik, even closer than before, their thighs almost brushing together. Not wanting Charles to make another scene, Erik places the half empty bottle out of James' on the table, and hands the baby back to his guardian, only to be stopped by a some odd force.

It was James, who refused to let go of Charles' hand. Charles looked incredulous.

"J-James?"

Tom tried to gently pry James' tiny hand open, only to have the baby let out a monstrously deep shriek. Charles patted at James' clutched hand to try to soothe the little baby, but James continued to bawl his eyes out. Out of nowhere, Michael appeared with an exasperated sigh.

"Jamesy, hug."

The baby calmed down immediately when he heard Michael's voice, and finally let go of Charles' hand only to grab onto Michael, and were both then helped onto the seating by Tom. Charles looked disappointed for a flash second, but smirked when he saw that Erik was rightfully his alone again. Tom watched Charles snuggle into Erik's jacket with a bemused smile.

"You're really good with children."

"...ugh.. thanks... You seem pretty good with them yourself."

A deep blush crept up Tom's cheeks, but just as he opens his mouth to say something back to Erik, Charles cuts in waving his small middle finger.

"Go way hoar!"

Tom could not leave the Zoo fast enough, what with Michael loudly begging to know what "hoar" meant, and loudly complaining that he couldn't have said a bad word if he doesn't know what "hoar" means.

And just like that, all's right again in Charles Xavier's world.