Oh my gosh, I hadn't realized it's been so long since I've updated! I'm so sorry! But...I am officially done with school now, so updates should come quicker (fingers crossed). So here's the next part, hope you like it, and thanks for sticking with me.

Charles woke up to the sound of someone talking. Without moving, he tried to make out the words, see if he could recognize the speaker.

"—stand your position, sir, and I know that I put in for leave but I'm asking you to ignore that. I'm requesting to be back on full duty."

Charles rolled his head to the right in the pause that followed those words to find Erik standing in the middle of the room, his back to Charles.

When Erik spoke again, Charles realized he was on the phone. "Can't you do it faster than that? Override it or something?"

Charles frowned, waking up fully and shamelessly eavesdropping. Who was Erik talking to?

"That's bullshit! I'm perfectly fine!" Erik sounded pissed. Charles watched his silhouette shove a hand through his hair and walk over to the window. "I don't care what legal says, there's no way I can do that in time."

Erik sighed. "Mason, I have to be here. Charles, Raven, they need me to be here. You and I both know that there is no one in this agency who knows Sebastian Shaw and how he thinks better than I do. I am the right person for this job and you know it."

Charles was startled at how emphatic Erik sounded. Mason? Oh, Erik was talking to his boss. Charles shifted a little to get comfortable and the bed squeaked slightly. He held his breath, praying Erik hadn't heard.

But of course he had. Erik turned around and Charles quickly closed his eyes and turned his head away, hoping Erik wouldn't notice in the darkened room.

"Is that your final say on the matter?" Now he sounded resigned. Charles was incredibly curious now. "Fine."

Silence. He couldn't even hear Erik's footsteps anymore. Maybe Erik thought he was still asleep?

"I know you're awake, Charles."

Busted. Biting back a sigh, he rolled his head back over to see Erik leaning on the back of the chair next to his bed. Erik asked, "How much of that did you hear?"

Charles considered lying, briefly, but ended up saying softly, "Enough to want to know what you were talking about."

Erik sighed heavily. "Just…typical bureaucracy shit." Charles tilted his head to the side in a silent question and Erik replied, "I asked Mason to put me back on active duty but he says he can't until I get a physical to prove to the legal department that I am in fact fit for duty. The catch is that I have to make an appointment with a doctor, who won't have an available slot for at least another week or so. Then I have to wait for it to get sent to legal and by then it's far too late."

"Oh," Charles said quietly. "So…what does that mean, exactly?"

Another sigh. "It means I can either leave, which puts Scott in charge, or I can stay, but as a civilian."

Charles had focused on the leaving part and felt a frisson of fear shoot through him. "But you're staying, right?" Erik opened his mouth to respond, but Charles rushed on to say, "Because I want you to. Civilian, agent, it doesn't matter to me. What matters to me…is that you're here. Now. No matter what happened before, I really do feel safer having you around."

Erik eyed him, his expression unreadable in the dark. "I was hoping you'd say that. I'll stay, as long as you want me around." Charles felt the beginnings of a blush. Erik added, "But just so you know, being a civilian means any actions I take to keep you two safe could land me in jail as opposed to being just part of the job."

He shook his head instantly. "Not possible."

"What's not possible?"

"You going to jail. I won't let that happen just because you're protecting me."

"Charles," Erik said, sounding a little exasperated, "you can't promise that."

Charles straightened, ignoring the twinge in his chest. "Of course I can," he said brightly. "I'm the next President of the United States. I can do whatever I want with my personal bodyguards."

Erik grinned, a white flash of teeth in the darkness. "There's the Charles I love."

His cheeks were hot now. No, he couldn't think that way. Not yet. "I'm still mad at you," he managed.

"I know. And I'll take whatever you want: bodyguard, friend, lover…I'll wait until you're ready."

Okay, definitely time to end this conversation. He stammered, "I'm…uh…I'm going to, uh, get some sleep. Rest up." He rolled away from Erik as much as he was able and closed his eyes.

The last thing he heard before drifting off was Erik's quiet, "Good night, Charles."

The next couple days passed in much the same way. Charles and Alex healed and recovered their strength for the move to D.C. Erik, Scott and Jean worked on logistics. From Charles' eavesdropping, it sounded like Raven would be rooming with Angel and Charles would be…well, he would be moving in with Erik. Talk about no pressure.

Raven and Angel came and went, working on moving her things out of her dorm room as the semester drew to its final conclusion. When they were present, Charles and Raven spent their time playing card games or watching Netflix and YouTube videos. When Charles could move without too much pain, they moved to Alex's bed and hung out there.

The only time Charles interrupted the planning sessions was when he overheard them discussing how much it would cost to buy out the first class section of an airplane. He couldn't help it; he just called out, "That's not necessary."

"Explain." That came from Erik, unsurprisingly, but it was less of an order and more of a request for more information.

"Well," Charles said, a bit reluctantly, "I have a private jet. I don't use it all that much, though. I actually haven't used it for a long time but it's still in the hanger. I don't have a pilot anymore, though."

Erik raised an eyebrow. "You have a private jet and you're just now mentioning it?"

"Well, technically, my family has a private jet, but yes. I don't have a pilot, though, like I said."

Erik hummed thoughtfully, tapping his chin as he pushed away from the wall and started to pace. Charles knew he thought better when he was moving; it was endearing. He wrenched his mind away from that. If he thought too much about how he felt about Erik, then he would be forever thinking on the three little words that Erik said. About the fact that Erik had said them first and did not expect Charles to return them until he was ready. That alone threw Charles for a loop. He was usually the one who said it first and the fact that he couldn't now was telling. What it told, he couldn't figure out.

Or maybe he didn't want to figure it out yet.

After a minute of pacing, Erik abruptly said, "This could work in our favor."

Charles relaxed. He'd expected Erik to be more upset than this.

"What do you mean?" Jean asked.

"Well, I've been wondering how we could make sure that Shaw didn't have someone on the plane that could somehow get past us and to Charles. Buying out first class would only secure part of the plane, but if we can use Charles' family plane," and here he nodded in Charles' direction, "then that solves quite a lot. All we'd need to do is find a pilot who doesn't mind not knowing more than the destination."

Scott grinned. "No problem. I'll just call the airport and pull a few strings."

"Wait." Erik held out a hand. "No one can know Charles is flying to D.C. You can tell them the destination but make sure they know Charles is not involved at all. I am not taking any chances on Shaw having an informant."

"So why are we flying again?" Raven put in, her tone arch.

Erik told her calmly, "Because driving takes forever and it's too easy to box a car in or separate us. Taking the train or a bus is even worse because you can't get off if needed. Flying is actually the quickest and safest way to go."

Raven appeared to consider that for a moment then nodded. "Okay." She turned to Alex, holding out a hand. "Hit me."

"Raven," Charles sighed. "We are not playing blackjack, for the seventh time."

"We should be! I'm so much better at that than…what is this we're playing?"

Alex laughed as Charles scrubbed a hand over his face. "Rummy," he repeated tiredly. "We're playing rummy, Raven."

"And you're losing," Angel added with a grin from her perch against the wall next to them.

Raven instantly retorted, "Am not!"

Erik ignored them to send Jean and Scott to Charles' place to grab their things. Dixon and Richardson remained outside the door but Erik had refused to let them in on the plans, saying if no one outside their group knew then they couldn't be betrayed. Charles was concerned Erik was being paranoid but if it kept him out of Shaw's clutches…

"I'm pretty sure the agents out there know what's going on," Charles said from where he sat on the edge of his bed, swinging his legs back and forth.

Erik glanced across the room at him as he tightened the strap on his holster. He'd told the others about Mason's refusal to put him back on active duty and they were all just as certain as Charles that he wouldn't end up in jail. He'd been touched; he hadn't had friends in a long time and to find such unexpected ones was a blessing he didn't intend to lose.

Like he didn't intend to lose Charles again.

"They know we're leaving," Erik responded calmly. "That's all. Now come here."

Charles huffed but made his way around the group to stand in front of him, arms crossed. He'd ditched the sling this morning but still favored his left arm. He tilted his head back to look at Erik and Erik had to fight back the urge to touch him, he looked so kissable. He reached behind him and pulled a vest off the pile.

Charles lifted an eyebrow as he stared at it. "I'm not a vest person, sorry."

"You'll wear this one."

"Why?"

"It's bulletproof."

"Isn't that a bit overkill?"

Erik shook his head. "The point here is to minimize possible targets. The vest is nonnegotiable, Charles."

"Everything's negotiable," Charles retorted, but there was no bite to it as he took the vest. "Oof, it's heavy!"

"Yeah, and…?"

Charles shot him a glare as he slipped it over his head. Erik felt a smile lift his lips slightly—he'd missed these little repartees with Charles. Charles' arm got stuck in the sleeve and Erik's smile fell. Ficken, that's his injured arm. He quickly stepped forward to help Charles' arm through, then went on to buckle up the side of the vest, trying and failing to ignore their proximity.

"Are you absolutely sure this is necessary?" Charles started again, as if he didn't feel anything.

Erik nodded, tightening one last strap. "Your safety is my only concern right now, and I will do whatever it takes to keep you in one piece. So, yes, to answer your question—the vest is absolutely necessary, Charles."

Charles scrunched his nose in that way he did when he wanted to keep arguing but couldn't find a legitimate reason to do so. Erik brushed a strand of hair behind Charles' ear and murmured, "Ich liebe dich."

Charles frowned up at him. "What does that mean?"

Erik just grinned. "If I recall correctly, you once wanted a German-English dictionary. Look it up." In a louder voice, he called, "Everyone set?"

A varied array of affirmatives responded and he met Scott's eye. Scott nodded and opened the door. "We're ready to move out," he informed Richardson and Dixon. They peered inside and nodded.

The group filed out, the two agents in front with Charles and Erik right behind. Then came Scott and Alex—still a bit unsteady, leaning on his brother—then Angel and Raven, and Jean covered the rear. Erik kept a hand on Charles' lower back, his eyes darting everywhere. Each agent carried a bag, except Alex. They all smooshed into one elevator down to the lobby where two taxis were waiting. Erik, Charles and Jean got into the first one. Scott, Alex, Angel and Raven took the second. No one was thrilled with the setup but it was a short ride to the airport.

They'd only been on the road a couple minutes when Charles said suddenly, "Can we check on the others?"

Jean twisted in the front seat to look at him in surprise. "They're right behind us, Charles. I can see them in the mirror."

Charles wrung his hands together and bit his lip. "I know, but I just…can we make sure?"

Then Erik understood. Raven. He tugged his phone out and tapped a number into the screen. Hitting speaker, he held it out for all of them to hear.

Scott asked, "Trouble, Erik?"

Erik shook his head. "No, no trouble. Just checking in."

"We're good. Right behind you." Scott chuckled. "Alex is waving from the front seat."

Erik and Charles both twisted around and sure enough, Alex's arm was waving frantically from side to side. Charles gestured to the phone, as if asking if he could talk. Erik nodded and Charles leaned over, his side pressing against Erik's.

"Raven? Are you okay?"

"Alex won't shut up, but other than that, I'm fine, Charles. Seriously, you need to stop worrying about me and worry about yourself for once."

Erik felt the tension flood out of Charles at his sister's voice. Charles smiled at the phone. "Impossible, my dear sister. I will always worry about you first."

She scoffed, a huff of air through the phone's speakers. "A problem I've been trying to change since I was old enough to realize it was a problem."

Erik cleared his throat before this could enter the siblings' troubled past. Charles looked up at him, his face a little pink.

"I suppose this is where I ask the obligatory, are there yet?" Alex interjected.

There came the sound of something hitting skin. "Dumbass," Scott muttered. "Erik, I just saw a sign for the airport. Should be about ten minutes away."

"Okay," Erik replied. "See you soon." Slipping the phone back into his pocket, he asked Charles, "Feel better?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I just…after everything that's happened, I needed to hear her voice."

Erik nudged his shoulder, "Hey, I get it."

Charles flashed him a quick smile and turned to look out the window.

Getting inside the airport was easy. All they had to do was flash a badge and everyone got out of their way. They'd attempted a sort of disguise with the Xaviers. Hats and sunglasses, like celebrities wear, plus keeping their heads down helped avoid the facial recognition on the cameras. Flying out of LaGuardia, they didn't really have a problem avoiding notice. Raven watched her brother and Erik as they all made their way down the hall to the jet. As much as she hated to admit it, they did look good together. And the idiotic agent had come back…

At least she wouldn't have to deal with Charles' broken heart anymore.

Angel nudged her shoulder and Raven turned to see what she wanted. Angel whispered, "How much longer do you think Charles will last before he gives in?"

Raven giggled and whispered back, "I give it three days alone with Erik. Once Charles decides on something, he doesn't give up easily."

"Neither does Erik."

"And those two are so in love it's grossing me out."

"Even though they're not actually dating?"

"That's what makes it really gross," Raven said with a grin.

An arm slung itself across Raven's shoulder and she looked to her other side to see Alex. "Whatcha two talking 'bout?" Alex asked, grinning.

The girls exchanged looks and Raven answered brightly, "Ships."

Alex's grin fell a bit. "Ships? Like, what, cruise ships? Motor boats? What?"

They laughed. Angel tilted her head at the guys in front of them, now walking onto the jet. "We're placing bets. How long before the lovebirds get back together?"

"A week."

Raven lifted her eyebrow. "A week? You sound rather confident about that, but I know my big brother. I bet three days."

Angel said, "I'm going to go with five, then."

"Five what?" Erik's voice made them all jump and he smirked.

They scrambled for an acceptable lie. Alex got there first. "Five minutes until you tell us to shut up and sit down."

"Really?" Erik sounded skeptical but gestured for them to come in. "Sit down and shut up."

The three of them scooted past him and settled in the back, Scott plopping down next to his brother with a sigh, his phone in his hands as he typed something.

Charles fidgeted in his seat. He hadn't been back on this particular plane in years. Since the last family vacation, where he had to share a room with his stepbrother. Maybe it had been a bad idea to offer the jet…

Erik dropped into the seat next to him. "We'll be taking off in a few minutes."

Charles nodded, trying not to think. Cain had sat next to him the last time. Distraction. That was what he needed. "You trust the pilot?"

He didn't need to look to know Erik was studying him. After a moment, Erik said, "Yeah. He doesn't know anything past the scheduled flight plan. You okay? You're breathing kinda fast."

Charles nodded. "Fine," he said, forcing a quick smile to his lips. He tugged at the hem of the bulletproof vest.

Erik shifted. "You're not fine, Charles. What is it?"

"It's nothing. I'm fine."

"Charles, I know you better than that." When he didn't respond, Erik lowered his voice. "Are you scared about Shaw? Because it's okay."

Charles shook his head, his eyes closed. Scared, yes. Shaw, not really. Not with Erik here. A hand wrapped around his and squeezed. Erik said softly, "I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"It—I." Charles took a quick breath, squeezing Erik's hand back as it spilled out in a rush. "The last time I was in here, I wasn't able to stand up to my stepbrother. We were on our way to some family vacation, Raven was too young to understand what was going on and I was sharing a bench and a room with him and I couldn't let him touch her. She was barely a teenager and I—I had to—" his voice broke as he felt his eyes burn.

Erik didn't say anything; just pulled his hand free. Charles' eyes flew open in surprise but Erik was already putting an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close. Suddenly enveloped in Erik's arms, Charles let himself give in, let the tears out. It was such a relief to let it out, even a little bit. Erik rubbed his back, not saying anything but just…being there. Like he said he would.

There was a sudden roar, followed by a voice saying they were taking off but Charles refused to move and Erik didn't show any signs of wanting to let him go, either. Pressure slammed them back into the seat momentarily and then that same voice said they were okay to move. Charles gave it another minute before pulling back, swiping his sleeve across his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said and sniffed, his gaze going to where his sister sat laughing with the others. "I didn't mean to, to break down like that."

Erik's fingers brushed his cheek, wiping away a tear. Charles finally looked at him, then. Erik's gaze was soft but there was no trace of pity in it. Instead, there was something else, something that made his heart skip a beat. He swallowed and put some space between them. That was twice now he'd let Erik hold him when he would normally have just brushed it off and fallen apart later. How long could Charles maintain the air of hurt and anger before giving in? Erik said softly, "You don't have to apologize for seeking comfort, Charles."

Charles shook his head. He didn't understand. "I've been the primary caregiver for my sister since I was eleven, Erik. I've always been there to comfort Raven, to dry her tears, to give her courage to try new things, to be at her games or plays or awards ceremonies. I was her surrogate parent and I loved it. It's just..." He shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed. "I've never…it's never been the other way around, no matter how much Raven likes to think it is. I just keep too many things close to the vest." He flicked one of the buckles, flashing a quick smile.

Erik didn't buy his attempt at a joke. "I'd like to change that, if you'll let me."

I know, and I'm not quite ready yet. Charles studied him for a moment. "You know," he said, "you've changed since we first met. I never would have expected grumpy Agent Lensherr to be such a romantic softy."

Erik rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, well, maybe it just took the right person to bring it out."

Charles pointed at him. "That. That is what I mean." He leaned back against his seat, feeling a lot calmer now. He yawned, tired now that the adrenaline of the trip to the plane had worn off. "I like it, though. I like both sides of you."

"The feeling's mutual."

Charles felt his eyes drift shut as Erik said, "Get some sleep. I'll wake you before we land."