X Mansion

She had a black eye. She had a black eye!

Charles had revealed that they would be leaving for his home in Westchester. Then he and Moira had left to make covert arrangements.

The recruits had been shifting through their salvaged belongings when Amelia caught her reflection on one of Hank's broken lab equipment pieces. She had a black eye.

"Holy shit!"

She was standing a little away from the others and Alex was closest to her. So of course he heard her.

"What? What happened?" He walked to her alert for danger.

"I have a black eye!" It really shouldn't have been a surprise considering she had been punched in the face.

Alex was confused at her panic. "Yeah… I thought you already knew. Can't you feel it?"

Yes her face hurt, but every part of her body felt like crap so she hadn't given it much thought. "My whole body hurts –how am I supposed to pick out the pain on my face?"

Alex rolled his eyes. "Here, let me see." He took her face in his hands and inspected the bruise. Amelia was trying hard not to have a panic attack. "Trust me, I've had worse. It'll go away in a couple of days."

Amelia sighed in relief and Alex was still inspecting her bruise when Erik walked over to them. Awkward. Both she and Alex became completely still and looked at Erik out of the corner of their eyes.

While nothing romantic was going on (between her and Alex or her and Erik), Alex was still intimidated. He pushed her face away and took a step back. That hurt.

"Ow!"

Alex blinked and realized what he'd done. "Shit! I'm sorry!"

Alex was going to step forward again but he caught sight of Erik. The look on Erik's face held both amusement and that threatening-not-threatening expression that he wore all the time.

Alex stepped back again. "I'm gonna go… over there." He went closer to the others.

Coward.

Erik raised an eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes.

"What happened to Shaw being in Russia?"

"I guess he changed his mind." He was holding information back.

"Well… I can see why you wanted to kill him." A smile stretched out on Erik's face. He threw his head back and laughed. It verged on hysterical. "I'm serious, Erik. He can't just be stopped. We have to kill him."

That shut him up. "Why do you say that?"

"He wants the humans dead. But what he wants –his plan– it'll kill us all."

"I guess we'll just have to kill him then."

They were having another mini road trip. This time Amelia was riding shot gun.

They couldn't all fit in Charles' car, so Moira had secured a Jeep. Charles drove Moira, Raven, and Hank. Erik drove the Jeep with Amelia, Alex, and Sean.

Sean had tried to fight her for the passenger seat but he was smart enough to back off. Charles hadn't been there so she wouldn't have had any qualms about using her ability.

The radio was crappy and Erik kept changing the stations. Once, when Erik had managed to leave the radio on one station for more than five minutes, Edith Piaf's "La Ve En Rose" came on, Erik had violently turned the dial. He had wanted revenge a lot at that particular moment.

Despite the fact that Amelia had gotten more sleep (albeit, not voluntarily) than Alex and Sean, she was still pretty tired. So when a slow song came on and Erik was about to change the station again, she said (very sleepily), "Don't –just leave it for awhile."

Erik did leave it and Brenda Lee's song about breaking it to her gently carried her to sleep.

She woke up with a cough and a snort. There was a beat of silence and then an eruption of male laughter. Amelia sat up and looked around. Erik wasn't laughing but he wanted to. She turned in her seat. Sean and Alex were cracking up.

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up." She couldn't help the smile that escaped her lips.

The rest of the drive passed in talk and laughter. That was good –they needed that.

They followed Charles to an impressive looking mansion. There was only one flaw Amelia could think of. It was in the middle of nowhere.

Amelia was a city girl, so growing up in a place like this would have been a nightmare. She definitely would have snapped –Charles was a saint.

They got out of the car and gathered around Charles. Everyone was looking at the house –mansion.

Sean raised his eyebrows. "This is yours?"

Charles' voice was filled with determination and optimism. "No, it's ours."

Erik's voice was laced with sarcasm. "Honestly, Charles, I don't know how you survived, living in such hardship."

Raven was smug. "Well, it was a hardship softened by me." She walked to her brother and he gave her an affectionate kiss on her head.

Amelia couldn't help but voice her opinion. "I don't know how you put up with it –I would have lost my mind." Raven gave her a look so she clarified, "Both of you –this place is in the middle of nowhere."

Raven seemed to realize Amelia wasn't trying to insult her –and that Amelia was being serious. Raven rolled her eyes. "Come on. Time for the tour."

It was a relatively short tour. Charles showed them where they'd each be sleeping, where the kitchen and bathrooms were, and the various places they'd be training. They convened in Charles' study.

He wanted to know what happened the night of the attack. He wanted to hear it from them –not the report Moira had gotten over the phone. So they told him. In return, Charles told them what happened in Russia.

It was Erik who began the questioning afterward.

"Your powers didn't work on him?"

Amelia frowned. "No –I couldn't make him do anything. Wait… I knew what he wanted." She asked Charles. "How is that possible?"

Charles had been staring off but he met her eyes as he answered. "I have a theory. I think you might be a telepath and an empath."

"An empath?"

Hank spoke up. "Reading emotions as opposed to thoughts."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "I know what an empath is." It made sense. She wasn't reading people's minds –she was feeling what it was they wanted.

Erik brought up a good point, "How did you know his plans then?"

Amelia struggled with that one but she came up with her own theory. "I guess because… most people have a vague idea about what they want. And Shaw –well… his wants are pretty specific." That made some sort of sense. "I mean… Take yourself for example. You want Shaw dead but you don't have an exact plan you want to execute. What I don't get is why he didn't kill me… He killed Darwin."

The atmosphere became somber but Hank had his own theory. "From what we've learned, Shaw absorbs kinetic energy and then releases it as a weapon. When he got to you I think he used up all the excess energy on the guards. He was able to kill Darwin because…" He stopped there.

Alex was the personification of guilt.

The talking resumed but Amelia's thoughts drifted. Her eyes met Erik's and they started to play a game. Pointing out pretentious items in the room with their eyes. A bronze lion head. Awards for Charles' ancestors. Ridiculous looking portraits. An antique cigar box.

The game continued until Charles decided to call it a night. "I suggest you all sleep now. Tomorrow we begin training –really training– bright and early."

They all walked off to their respective rooms and Amelia welcomed unconsciousness once more.