August 17, 1992

"How long are you going to be delayed?" Lorna asked.

Angel shifted the pay phone. She glanced at Luna, who was reading a book and swinging her legs. All around them the airport buzzed with life, and she looked at the flight schedule again, hoping it had changed. It hadn't.

"I think we're going to have to stay the night," Angel said, "There's some sort of storm in Miami right now, and it's causing merry hell with the schedules. I've booked another flight, but it doesn't take off until tomorrow. Unless the storm dies down..."

"I understand," Lorna said.

She sighed on the other side of the phone.

"It's just...Alex hasn't been able to come because of what's happening with Sean and Terry and...Max..." she said.

Angel's heart broke. She remembered how Max had looked when Alex left the house with him. He'd been shell-shocked, shying away from even the smallest touch. He'd forced himself to see Luna, ashamed of what he'd done to her. Luna understood that it hadn't been on purpose, but that didn't make it any easier for Max.

She could hear the pain in Lorna's voice, and she wished that she could help. All she could do was make sure that Luna didn't run off and was taken care of. She couldn't do anything for Lorna. They were still several states apart at the moment.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Angel said, "And Max is going to see his sister, okay?"

"I trust you Angel," Lorna said, "Just be safe."

Angel bit the inside of her cheek. Lorna had always trusted her. She knew that she hadn't always taken the best care of that trust, but Lorna kept trusting her. It was moments like that that made Angel joyful to be free of her old life.

"Of course," Angel said, "And hey, you wanna talk to Luna?"

"Of course," Lorna said.

Angel put another quarter into the phone and handed it to Luna. Luna tossed her book aside and eagerly reached for the phone.

"Thanks Aunt Angel!" Luna said.

Angel smiled. Aunt Angel. It was her favorite title.


The town outside of Westchester was pretty and picturesque. Sharon knew that the Xavier family had been the primary land owners of the area for over two hundred years. They were ingrained into the land and, like them, it had its own secrets.

The town was forthright though, unlike the school that towered high above it all. She was glad that David had offered to drive her out to the town. She was grateful that David had thought of it, especially since she knew that she wasn't the only one who needed to get out for a bit.

He'd looked a little unsettled when she'd asked if Rahne could come, although she wasn't sure why. In the end Rogue, Remy, and Max had been asked if they wanted to come as well, and from somewhere Bobby had managed to get in on things.

It was nice to get out for a while. The Institute held fond memories for Sharon, but it could get stifling at times. She didn't understand how David, Kurt and Terry had managed to grow up around so much chaos.

All of it only managed to make her homesick. Sharon had a suspicion that she wasn't going to go home anytime soon. She didn't want to be selfish, but she was getting tired of repeating that in her head.

Everything had seemed to happen at once. First David's father had been comatose, then Magneto had escaped and Terry had been attacked. The X-men were out too, and that couldn't mean anything was a politician's daughter, so she knew how to prioritize, even though all she wanted to do was see her parents, ask her mother what she should do with David.

She walked up to a window display and peered in. A variety of different items met her eyes, but it wasn't anything that interested her enough to go in. Rahne was looking at it curiously though, as was Rogue. When Rogue went in Rahne followed her.

Sharon smiled to herself. She was glad that Rahne was moving outside of her comfort zone. When she had first come to the Institute she'd been afraid to leave Sharon's side for more than five minutes.

"Sharon, have you seen Kurt?" David asked.

Sharon looked away from the window display.

"He didn't come with us, did he?" she asked.

"No, but his room's been locked for a while and he hasn't answered the door," David said, "I was wondering if you'd seen him out and about since yesterday."

She shook her head and David let out a frustrated breath.

"I hope he's not doing anything stupid: I can only cover for him for so long," David said.

"Why's that?" Sharon asked.

"My parents are wondering where he is, and I'm two seconds away from asking my father to use Cerebro," David said.

She brushed away some of her hair.

"That bad, huh?" he asked.

David scratched the back of his neck. Sharon didn't notice that he moved a little away from her when she rocked near him. She narrowed her eyes a little.

Although she knew that whatever had almost happened a few days ago had confused him, she didn't like the sudden awkwardness that he was portraying.

"It's going to turn out that he's just gone into the attic or something stupid," David said.

"But you're worried about him," Sharon said.

"I always worry about him," David said, "I have a hard time helping it."

He rubbed the back of his neck and breathed out slowly.

"I'm sorry I can't take you back home right now," he said.

The words came out of nowhere. They were quiet, but Sharon couldn't quite hear the regret in them. She wondered why David was being so stiff, but lately she had begun to wonder if she knew him as well as she thought she did.

"Well, it wouldn't be fair to ask for that with everything that's going on with Terry," Sharon said.

David shuffled his feet.

"If you really want, I could take you home," he said, "It would be difficult but-"

"Don't worry about it," Sharon said.

She wished she could say something different, but she couldn't. For a moment David looked at the ground.

"I think that one of the big barriers for you going home is the fact that I don't want you to," he said.

Sharon paused. She turned and looked at David, seeing his eyes for the first time. He gave her a half shrug, his expression strange.

"What?" she asked.

"Sharon, I'm not good with these kinds of things," he said, "I mean, I managed to word this in such a way that you misunderstood me."

He waved his hand to the town, the motion vague. Sharon continued to stare at him still unsure what it was he'd tried to say, scared that he didn't mean what she thought he did.

"But...for the longest time I've been afraid to tell you just how amazing I think you are," he said.

Sharon's breath caught in her throat. David laughed slightly and looked at the sky.

"You know I've never had a lot of self-confidence," he said, "And, even with that, you've always made me feel like there were no limitations. I've been so scared of losing that that...I didn't really make a decision as fast as I should have."

He looked over at her and smiled. A few tears gathered in her eyes. Something slipped over him then, a sort of self-assuredness she'd in him before, a sense of relief that, whatever the outcome, he had done what needed to be done.

"So I would like to tell you that I love you," he said, "And that I would like to invite you out sometime before you go home. Now if you want."

Words got stuck in her throat as David looked at her, his expression gentle and patient. After a few minutes her tongue started working again.

"But...you don't...this..." she said.

She faltered. David gave a wry smile.

"What made you think that I wasn't asking you out?" he asked.

She stared at him, hating that her words were coming out disjointed.

"You're not...you don't see me that way," she said.

David laughed.

"I told you I'd done it wrong," he said, "If I'd done it right it wouldn't seem so strange when I told you."

He ran a hand through his hair.

"Sharon, I know I'm all kinds of messed up," he said, "But I'm trying to be better. I'm through stalling and worrying about whether or not I'm good enough or strong enough. I've decided..."

His eyes met hers.

"I've decided that I should let you decide that," David said.

Sharon felt like crying.

"What took you so long?" she asked.

"I was stupid," he said.

Sharon walked up to him and took his hand.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you're not stupid?" Sharon asked.

"A few more I suppose," David said.

She laughed and smiled. David paused for a moment before leaning in. Sharon froze as his lips brushed hers. A second passed and she closed her eyes and kissed him back, unsure of what she was doing.

David had no such compunctions. She'd told Rahne that she didn't know just why kissing was considered so romantic, that she hoped that she would find out one day. His lips moved against hers, warm and welcoming. She felt like she was melting and wrapped her hands around his neck.

He pulled away and leaned forward so his forehead touched hers.

"I wish I'd done that earlier," he said.

"Then you're just going to have to make it up to me," she said.

She kissed his cheek, feeling his skin beneath her lips in all of its warmth. She heard him take a sharp breath.

"Let's go get dinner," she said.

David grinned. He put his hand on her shoulder just as his phone rang. They both jumped. Sharon laughed nervously and David rolled his eyes as he fished his phone out.

"David Xavier," David said.

He rolled his eyes again.

"Jeez Kurt, you've got some timing," he said, "What's up?"

There was a pause. David closed his eyes.

"You're where?" he asked

Sharon cocked her head as David pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Of course you did, that's a pretty damn long series of teleportations," he said, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you'd be in if mom and dad found out?"

David opened his eyes and sighed.

"What are older brothers for?" he asked.

He nodded and clicked off his phone.

"What's wrong?" Sharon asked.

"Remember Amanda?" David said.

"Of course," Sharon said.

"Kurt went to go visit her," David said.

Sharon laughed, and then she saw David's expression.

"You're serious," she said.

"Unfortunately," David said, "He can't teleport back: it seems like he thought about visiting Amanda, and then forgot that he can't exactly do that many teleportations back with anything approaching a quick turnaround. He's burned himself out."

He shook his head and put his phone away.

"I need to get up there before our parents find out," he said, "They won't exactly be understanding with everything that's been happening lately."

David looked at her.

"Boston's not that far from D.C," he said.

His tone was regretful. Sharon smiled, although there wasn't much mirth in it.

"They're actually rather far apart. You need to look at a map sometime," she said.

"No, what I mean is that...that would have to be my excuse for leaving," David said, "Either that or I tell my parents about the first dumb stunt that Kurt's pulled."

Sharon walked up to David and put her hand on his face. He leaned into it and Sharon managed a smile. She had to agree with David: Kurt's timing was terrible. If she agreed to David's plan then she'd get to go home, but she would be leaving a blossoming relationship behind.

She understood though. Kurt was David's little brother, and he needed him. Besides, he was Sharon's friend too.

"Well, it's a long way to Boston, isn't it?" she said.

"Yes," he said.

He sounded confused.

"Then you can buy me dinner on the road," she said.

David smiled and put his hands on her waist.

"I really should have done this earlier," he said.