AN: Hey, gnome here! *waves to the readers* Jellyfish is usually the one who writes the author's notes, so it's nice to see everyone! :D Anyways, lots of drama and angst here. We'll get back to our regularly scheduled silliness and fluff eventually, we swear. Right after we finish dying from all the schoolwork we have to do. Any other poor souls out there taking AP classes? God, the homework. It never ends.
Also, I just wanted to thank and each and every person who's read this far. It means a lot to us. Like, a lot. And an extra big thank you for all the encouraging feedback! The reviews never fail to put a stupid grin on my face. :) And while I love the praise, I'd also like to say that constructive criticism is very welcome!
Anyways, do enjoy!
Erik knew that Charles wasn't fine, despite what he had said, and that really it had been a dumb question to even ask, but he nodded anyways. He went back inside the house and pulled his boxers and pants on, and then ran to the kitchen to retrieve his shirt.
This was bad. The man was probably getting away, and everything was Erik's fault. He had let the men see him dressed as an employee in the store. He hadn't even stopped and considered that when the workers came to replace the window that they might recognize him. He should have realized that truth or dare would most likely only end in disaster. He should have just picked truth with Angel, and they wouldn't be in this situation. And even then he shouldn't have gone along with it, he should have known better.
He had lost control of his temper when the man punched Charles and then revealed that he was a mutant- He had been so focused on distracting the kids from using their powers around them, and then he had went and blown the whole thing himself. He had been such a complete moron, and now they were in some serious trouble.
While he was in the kitchen, Erik grabbed a cloth and got it damp. He then handed it to Charles to help stem the flow of blood.
"Come on, we've got to catch him, he can't go running off knowing about- this." Erik said to Charles. "It hasn't been too long, he couldn't possibly have gotten far. We'll get in the cars and chase him. Did you see what direction he ran in?"
He held the cloth to his face and then looked around the yard, "He was thinking of heading to the store before, so he could tell his boss who you were or something. I figure he's still going to do the same thing."
"Hold on," Charles ran inside grabbing the keys and gave them to Erik. "Don't kill us please, or anyone at all in fact, but we need to get there fast. I really can't drive with my nose anyways."
He braced himself for another stupid decision right there, but it was the truth - they needed to get to the store fast and well...Erik did drive a lot faster than he should. Charles just hoped no one notice. He could make the car seem as if it wasn't there, but then they might crash into someone - which would be bad. Charles sat in the passenger seat, ignoring the blasting headache and throbbing of his nose.
Not to mention, Erik's worried and guilty thoughts were suffocating him, "We'll find him, clear his memory, and everything will be fine." He told him.
Except Charles didn't even believe what came out of his mouth himself, so why should it comfort Erik? He was just hoping it would.
Upstairs the men didn't even seem to notice what was going on. When George asked Alex where his dad was, he quickly lied that Charles and Erik needed to run an errand real quick and would be returning soon. The man was satisfied with the answer and the window continued to make progress.
Erik tried to calm himself at bit for Charles' sake, but even as the telepath told Erik that everything would be okay it was obvious that Charles was just as worried as he was. He took the keys from Charles solemnly. Finally getting to drive was a hollow victory.
They climbed in the car and Erik turned the key in the ignition, firing up the engine. Now he just had to drive fast enough make it to the store, or better yet, catch up with the man before he even got to his destination. This shouldn't be too hard for Erik. If there was one thing he could do, it was get away with driving a car at an outrageous speed.
And now the chase began. As Erik sped out of the mansion he found himself wishing that they hadn't bothered Hank in his lab so much. Maybe if they hadn't he would have already repaired Cerebro and then it would be as simple as hooking Charles up to it. Then he would be able to wipe his memories without even having to leave the mansion. But they had constantly plucked Hank out of his lab for social interaction time, and it was too late to change that.
As he hit the main road Erik sped up even more, until the speed gaugehit 87 miles per hour. Erik could tell that the high speed was scaring Charles.
"Don't worry, Charles, I'm actually quite experienced with driving this fast. That incident earlier was a once in a lifetime thing. I don't usually crash. Usually." Erik said, attempting to comfort him.
Erik glanced at Charles stomach, and he himself became nervous about what would happen to Charles and his unborn child if he did screw up and drive the car into a brick wall. He quickly fixed his eyes on the road, focusing on not having an accident. He bit his lip.
I am sorry. I know you're probably angry with me, and I don't blame you. It's entirely my fault.
No...not angry, just, Charles mental sighed. I'm just very disappointed in you Erik, that's all.
He gripped the seat, even with Erik's comfort, as much as he loved the man, his driving terrified him. Charles tried to ignored how fast things were blurring past him and shuddered. The telepath worked on calming himself before trying to locate David's mind when they drew closer to the store.
"Don't pull in the front, there is a back parking lot for workers. We need to take that entrance. It leads to the main office where I think he is," Charles breathed out.
He stumbled out the car, and waved Erik to follow him, "I'm going to hide us until we find him - so please don't bump into anything or anyone."
Charles quietly opened the door, ushering the other man inside before closing it. He walked into the room where David was currently waiting for his main boss. Charles closed the door and the worker jumped back; looking around wildly. The telepath relieved them and took a breath.
"Hello David, I think we need to talk," he said watching the other man's movements carefully.
"W-What the hell? You weren't there a second ago! I knew I wasn't imagining things, you're both freaks!" he screeched bumping into the desk behind him.
Charles blinked, "Mutants would be a better word for it, the evolution of genetic mutation - we're just the next level of you."
"I don't care what you're called, I want you away from me!" David snarled.
He took a step closer, "Don't worry. I can make it as if we never met."
David tried to reached for the phone when Charles froze time, and he walked forward focusing on the man's mind. It only took a few minutes to erase, change, and rearrange the man's memories. David will believe that he came back because he needed to take leave for a family emergency. That the reason he left the Xavier house was due to a phone call from his older brother, and all memories of Erik were erased. Charles took Erik and himself outside and leaned against the car with a miserable look on his face. He tried to calm himself down, breathing in and out before finally letting his hand drop from covering his face.
"See? Problem solved," he said quietly. "Let's go home."
Charles was trying to ignore that fact that he just altered and changed six different people's memories. Violating their privacy and changing it how he wanted them to remember the days events. Instead of getting into the car so they could leave, Charles pushed himself away from it and threw up.
Erik thought that his guilt was going to crush him before, and the feeling intensified more than he would have thought possible when Charles threw up from stress. He was the cause of this, and he knew it. If only he hadn't so damn stupid and childish this wouldn't be happening. If only he hadn't let the humans in the house, and volunteered to figure the window himself.
He felt a surge at anger at these people, who for whatever reason Charles was intent on defending, even as they called him things like 'freak' and told him that they didn't want anything to do with him because he was different. They didn't deserve Charles' kindness, not in the least. He did nothing but try to help them, even when it would be easier to simply get rid of them. And they repaid him with cruel words and violence and condemnation. The fact of the matter was that Charles was too good for the world, and the world would exploit that fact in whatever way they could… He breathed out harshly, curbing his rage. He didn't have time for this, he needed to comfort Charles.
He immediately ran over to Charles and wrapped his arm around him, rubbing Charles' back with the other.
"It's okay, Charles, we got him, it's okay, no one's going to find out. We can go back home now, back to the kids. God, I am so sorry, Charles. I don't know what I was thinking." Erik said desperately. "Come on, get in the car, we'll go back and get you cleaned up, and you can lie down for a bit."
Erik helped Charles up into the passenger seat and buckled him in. He climbed in the in the driver's seat and started the car up. He would have let Charles drive, but he knew that he was in no condition to be operating a vehicle right now.
For the first time since… Erik couldn't even remember when, he actually drove below the speed limit, used his turn signal, and came to a complete stop for things like stop signs and red lights. Like he had said, he knew the rules of the road perfectly well, but they were disregarded as they were really nothing more than an inconvenience for him. But driving slower would make Charles feel better. So using every ounce of his self control, Erik forced himself to drive safely. He kept talking to Charles softly, hoping to make him a bit less upset.
Once they arrived at the mansion, Erik stopped the car and looked over to Charles, putting his hand over Charles' and squeezing.
I'll go upstairs to explain what happened to the kids and deal with the workers. You clean yourself up and rest. I'll join you afterwards- if you want me to, that is. If you want a break from me I understand completely.
He had pretty much remained silent the whole trip, just listening to Erik talk and watching the world pass by out the window. Charles really didn't feel like getting up but when Erik squeezed his hand and left, the telepath didn't want to stay alone in the car either. He sat there for a minute before pushing himself out and walking up to the house. Eventually Charles had made it to his room and jumped right in the shower.
He let the water fall on his and sighed out loud before actually washing his hair. It didn't take him long to clean up, and he stumbled out. Charles glanced around for clothing, which he forgot to grab, settling for one of Erik's turtle necks that was laying on the floor and the boxers he was previously wearing. He picked up his old shirt and pants, tossing them in the clothes hamper when he walked out. Charles looked down, irritably noticing that Erik's shirt went down to his knees and hopped in bed. He laid on his back, rubbing circles on his stomach.
Erik, he sent quietly. We need to talk about this later. When we're both... Calmer over the situation.
Charles rolled on to his side, watching his window untill he dozed off. Unlike the sleeping telepath, the kids were going nuts. They weren't bugging the workers, but they did attack Erik with questions when he walked into the room. Out of worry Sean and Alex were obediently sitting together, just playing a game of cards. Janos had turned up when Charles and Erik had left, keeping a watch over the children.
He eyed Erik wearily, not seeming too happy. It was hard for him to communicate without Charles or Azazel in the room. The telepath made it easy, and the other mutant was the only one who understood sign language. When it was just Riptide, the kids, and Erik- he was scribbling out poorly written English on paper. So unless he found it absolute necessary, he didn't bother.
Erik got upstairs. By now the workers had finished with the window, so he got out his wallet and paid them. The second the last one was out the door Erik was bombarded with questions from the kids.
"Okay, what the hell happened to Charles?" Raven demanded.
"Where did you two go?" Hank asked.
"Is he okay?" said Armando worriedly.
"Charles is… upset, he threw up earlier, and I think that his nose might be broken… But he'll be okay." Erik sighed. Now that he was calmer and thinking a bit more clearly, it occurred to him that Charles had mostly likely threw up due to 'morning sickness' rather than stress- He had been reading one of the baby books and had been surprised to learn that morning sickness didn't always necessarily happen in the morning.
"The man recognized me when we were running out of the hardware store after the tractor incident. The one man, David," the name came out as a snarl, "ran out and started yelling at me, and Charles tried to defend me. One of them went and punched Charles and when I saw him bleeding I- I lost it. I used my mutation to beat him with metal, and he ran off while I was making sure Charles was okay. We had to go back to the store and wipe his memory- that's what Charles already did with the ones that are still here." Erik explained.
Everyone was silent. Angel was assaulted by a surge of guilt- she had only meant to embarrass Erik, not let a human nearly make off with knowing that they weren't normal. Erik cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Well, it's… Okay now. You can all relax, the danger's over. No harm done." Erik said, and he really hoped that last part was true when it came to Charles.
The crowd in the room gradually dispersed, Alex and Sean left together, Azazel and Jados wandered off, Hank went down to his lab, and Raven decided that it would probably be a good idea to follow him down there and do some explaining... and perhaps some more kissing. Angel waited until after Darwin had left, and she mentally groaned at what she had to do now.
"Msry." She muttered, barely audible and so quickly that the words blended together.
"What?" Erik asked, only registering that she had made a sound. Angel's eye twitched. Of course he was going to make her say it again. As if the first time wasn't bad enough.
"I said I'm fucking sorry, okay!" She yelled, and then sighed. "I didn't mean to start that."
"It's not your fault… I shouldn't have gone along with it." Erik said.
"Hmph. You shouldn't have stayed here in the first place. If you weren't going to take over for him, you shouldn't have killed Shaw." She said bitterly.
"Shaw killed my mother in front of my own eyes, Angel. The bastard had it coming." Erik said, a hint of anger slipping in his tone despite himself. "And if you want to leave and start gathering a group of mutants for the purpose of fighting the humans- Then please, do so. I want that as well. What happened today is a prime example of why it's just not possible for both species to exist. But I'm going to be a father now, and I have to put my child before myself."
"Then leave for the sake of your kid, Erik. Do you really want your child to grow up in a world that makes them feel like they're an outsider, a freak, something to be ashamed of? Where they have to hide away one of the biggest parts of themselves from society to be accepted? Or do you want them to grow up in a world where they're considered completely normal, where they can use their abilities to their fullest extent and not have judgment passed on them?" Angel argued.
Angel's words hit home with Erik, and for a moment, a fraction of a second- he considered it. Then the next second a vision of Charles, and how distressed he was when Erik had left the car, and how devastated he would be if he left, and he was disgusted with himself for seriously thinking about it. Erik took a deep breath.
"Angel, I've made my decision, I'm not going back on it. I'm staying with Charles, and nothing you have to say about it can change that."
"Whatever. You're a dick." She fired back, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
After that Charles sent a message that they would talk about this later. Wonderful. Not only was Angel freshly pissed off at him, but he would be sleeping on the couch tonight and Charles was- well, he had said that he wasn't mad, just disappointed. Which was worse, in Erik's opinion. He'd really prefer it if Charles would simply scream at him for being a dumbass- Anger, he could deal with. That wouldn't be a problem. Anger was something that he was very familiar with. He hated knowing that he had let Charles down.
Yes… Calming down would probably be a wise idea. How's your nose though? Is it broken? Is there anything I can get you?
I think it is, I'm not sure. Look, come up here before I change my mind about talking about this.
Charles was now up, sitting indian style on the bed. He was playing with his hair when Erik finally stepped into the room.
"Sit down," he said quietly.
AN: Oh-ho-ho, cliffhanger! *trollface* Love you guys! :D