Chapter 21

The X-Mansion

It was a little past nine in the morning and the X mansion was silent. The students were still asleep and the professors were tending to personal matters of their own. Eli had barely slept the previous night. The thought of possibly getting to reunite with his sister after what felt like the longest few days of his life filled him with anticipation. The large boy had already dressed himself and crept into the dining area of the mansion.

Eli placed the palms of his hands on the cushioned window seat, peering out at the fog that rolled around the front lawn. His blue eyes glistened as he drew a smiley face on the window, the warmth of his finger etching the picture into the cold glass. He smiled back at his small picture before a familiar grumble distracted him.

"Is there a reason you're up so early?" Logan asked as he prepared the coffee pot to perform its morning duty. Eli plopped down on the window seat and shrugged.

"Nope," he lied. After the warning Scott had given him the night before he did not think it would be wise to let Logan in on his plan.

"Right." Logan showed little to no interest in the conversation now, but he knew Eli was lying.

"It's pretty foggy out this morning," Eli said.

"That tends to happen around here," Logan replied with his back turned to Eli as he grabbed a coffee mug from an overhead cabinet.

"I guess I haven't noticed."

The coffee pot hummed as the hot water filtered into a deep brown liquid. Logan watched the steady dripping turn into a steady stream with his arms crossed over his chest. He glanced over at Eli and sighed to himself. The grin on the teenager's face worried him.

"What are you really doin' up this early Waterboy?" Logan asked as one of his dark eyebrows rose. Eli gave him a confused look.

"Nothing Sir," he answered. "Honest. I just woke up and figured I'd get first dibs on breakfast."

"The day I believe that is the day that Shadowcat is taller than you."

"Professor, I'm being honest with you."

Eli stood up from his seat and the two men locked eyes. Logan knew that look on Eli's face all too well. The clenched jaw, the slightly narrowed eyes and the poised stance were all his own. He caught himself wondering if these were traits all HYDRA experiments gained over time, or if this boy was actually more like him than he expected. The door flew open and Bobby walked into the room. He passed by Logan, unaware of his presence, and put his hands on his hips.

"Alright Eli," he said loudly. "Let's go to the Brotherhood House!"

Logan smirked at Eli as his face turned pale. Eli gave his professor an innocent grin before shrugging his shoulders. Bobby turned around to see Logan and instantly realized his mistake.

"What business do the two of you have with the Brotherhood?" Logan asked. Bobby and Eli looked to one another for a moment.

"Professor, I think my sister is staying with the Brotherhood," Eli admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Is that so?" Logan asked.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure you can see why I'm interested in finding out if I'm right or not."

"Well that makes sense for you, but what's your deal kid?" Logan turned to Bobby who stiffened.

"I dunno," Bobby answered as he shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "I just don't want Eli to go alone is all."

"So you just volunteered to walk into charted enemy territory to back up Waterboy?"

"I guess." Logan rolled his eyes as he noticed Bobby was blushing.

"I'm getting too old to deal with this nonsense," Logan thought to himself.

The coffee pot had finished its morning brew and Logan quickly filled his mug. He neglected the creamer and sugar that sat on the table and took a sip of the black coffee. He groaned to himself before leaving the two boys alone in the room. Bobby looked to Eli for an explanation.

"Does that mean we can go?" Bobby asked.

"I don't think it means we can't go," Eli replied with a coy smile. Bobby nodded and the two left for the Brotherhood house.

The Brotherhood House

Lance had woken up before the rest of his housemates thanks to a throbbing migraine. He held one hand against his forehead as he walked down the stair case in search of Tylenol. He stumbled into the kitchen and found what he was looking for, taking four pills and washing them down with a glass of water.

"What a pain," he said to himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Lance walked back toward the staircase but stopped when he noticed Ellie was sound asleep on the couch.

He quietly walked to the archway of the living room and narrowed his eyes at her. She was wrapped up in a dark blue blanket with her hair spread out around her and covering her face. Lance wasn't quite sure what it was about this girl that had his friends so enamored. He knew that Toad did not have romantic feelings toward her, but he still seemed to enjoy having her around.

As for Fred, Lance knew why he liked Ellie so much. She was the first female to show him any form of kindness since the whole Jean Grey fiasco. The only reason he hadn't ruined his friendship with her so far is because of what happened when he became too involved with Jean. Lance mentally applauded his large friend from learning from his past mistakes.

The most concerning relationship that was brewing in this house was the one between Ellie and Pietro. Lance had lived with Pietro for a good while now, but he has never behaved so strangely around someone the way he does when Ellie is around. At first Lance figured Pietro was just concerned about his status amongst the Brotherhood. He didn't want to be upstaged by a new mutant. But once Pietro abandoned his plan to steal both of the Dingo twins away from the X-Men and settled for Ellie was when Lance knew something was going on.

Lance grabbed the sides of his head and winced as a loud knocking on the door filled the hallway. He moaned a bit as he tried to ignore the throbbing behind his eyes. Without considering the possibility of who was outside he opened the door. His eyes widened as he met the gaze of Eli Dingo and Bobby Drake. Lance quickly took a fighting stance in the open doorway.

"Wrong house losers," he spit. The ground began to tremble but Eli simply stood with his arms folded over his chest.

"Calm down man," Eli said. "I just need to ask you a question." Lance straightened up and the quaking stopped.

"Do I look like I've got time for your questions? Get outta here you losers."

"Is my sister staying here with you guys?" Eli got his answer when Lance's eyes widened.

The three boys looked to the hallway when a new voice entered the conversation.

"Hey Lance, what's goin' on man?" Toad asked as he bounced into the room. "I felt the shakin' and I—ahhhh!" Toad jumped behind Lance after seeing Bobby and Eli.

"Do you guys seriously not own pajamas?" Bobby asked as he examined the boys' dirty t-shirts and boxer shorts. Lance sneered at him.

"Not all of us get taken care of by some rich stiff that lives in a mansion," Lance replied.

"Don't you ever talk about the Professor like that!"

"Hey, hey!" Eli yelled as he stepped between the two boys as they balled their fists. "We aren't here to fight. I just want to talk to my sister for a minute."

"Then talk to me," Ellie said as she made her way down the hallway. The four boys turned to look at her, surprised that she was behaving so calmly.

Eli felt his heart begin to race as his grin turned to a smile. There she was, Ellie was right in front of him and she was perfectly fine. He wanted to run into that house and hug her as tightly as he could manage, but he restrained himself. Bobby, on the other hand, was having trouble pulling his eyes away from a skinny, gold ankle bracelet that skimmed the top of Ellie's bare foot as she approached them. The over sized black t-shirt she was wearing hit her mid-thigh, but from there down her legs were as bare as they could be.

Ellie jumped from the doorway and into her brother's chest. With her arms around his broad neck, she hugged him tight and Eli wrapped his arms around her small body and did the same. Eli began to laugh from the amount of happiness he was feeling, but Ellie remained silent. She smiled as she kept her face pressed against her brother's blond hair, wishing that time would stop and they would be stuck like this forever. They were together again, and she didn't want that to change.

"Ellie, I'm so glad that you're alright," Eli said as he placed his sister back onto the ground. Ellie gave him a small smile.

"You look good Eli," she told him.

"They've only been apart for like what, two days, and they're acting like it's been years," Toad whispered to Lance, confused by this greeting.

"Lance, I'm going to stay out here for a while," Ellie explained, turning to face the tired boy. "I'll come back in when I'm done talking. You can go back inside."

"Are you sure?" Lance asked, eying Bobby for a second.

"Positive."

"What if Pietro asks where you are?"

"You can tell Pietro that it's none of his business where I am."

"Okay, but if you need us we're right here."

Lance shut the door and ran his hand over his face. His head was still throbbing and he groaned to himself.

"Pietro is not going to be happy when he finds out about this," Lance said. Toad nodded in agreement.

A/N: It's no surprise I haven't updated in a while. Spring Semester just started and I decided to be an overachiever this semester and doubled up on classes. It was a better plan in theory though. I'm now balancing work, 5 English classes, 1 Advanced Spanish class and all of the homework you can imagine. I'm going to be updating more now that I've developed a system though. Hopefully everyone is doing well! It's good to be back.