Erik woke in a cold sweat. He'd been dreaming about Shaw, something which in itself wasn't uncommon considering what the man had done to him. The difference with this dream was that it wasn't him on the table, t was Charles. Charles being poked and prodded and hurt as Shaw stood over him, cruelty clear in the older mans' eyes. And Erik had watched, unable to move and unable to do anything to help his friend.

"Are you alright, my friend?" Charles strained voice carried to Erik's ears and the mutant froze, not quite believing that Charles was awake. "I assure you my friend, I am very awake. And alive. Something I think I have you and Hank to thank for." Yes, Charles was awake. The telepath's bright blue eyes were looking straight at Erik, although he could clearly see the strain in Charles' eyes.

"How are you feeling Charles?" Erik jumped to his feet, quickly assessing the way Charles looked. His friend was still far too pale for Erik's liking but at least he was awake.

"Not brilliant, I have to admit, though I am better than I was before." Charles' eyes were slowly drifting closed only to blink suddenly open as if Charles remembered he had company. "Perhaps we could continue this conversation another time?"

"Of course, get some sleep."

"You look like you need some to Erik." Erik shook his head but Charles frowned in answer, struggling to get up into a sitting position. Quickly, Erik pushed Charles back down again, not wanting his friend to strain himself.

"You need to sleep." Charles didn't argue, his eyes already closed and before Erik could say anymore the telepath was once more sleeping.

…..

The next time Charles woke up it was to Raven sitting by his bed, reading to him. There was a sharp pain in his neck and the minds around him where slightly blurred but otherwise he felt fine, something that surprised him greatly. Although he didn't remember much about what Mark had done to him, he did remember the other man being there. "Charles, you're awake." Raven shouted, making Charles cringe a little at the loud noise. "Sorry, I'll go and get Hank." Before Charles could say anything, Raven had run from the room.

He must have drifted off again as the next thing he knew Hank was standing over him. "How are you feeling Chares?" Hank asked.

"Fine." Raven glared at Charles from over Hank's shoulder, making Charles revise his previous statement. "My neck is a little sore and I'm a little lightheaded." Hank frowned, taking out a light and raising an eyebrow at Charles as if asking for permission to continue. Charles nodded, wincing as the light was shone into his eyes.

"Your pupils are acting normally, any headache?" Charles nodded, feeling the beginnings of a migraine coming. They had always been common for Charles, having to deal with so many brains in his head at one time especially when he couldn't control the flow of information when younger tended to cause headaches. "I can get you a pain killer. What about your telepathy?"

Charles frowned, reaching with his mind to touch that of Hank and ravens. They were there and Charles could pick up the basic brain signal coming from them even if they were a little faint. When he said as much to Hank, the scientist frowned and said, "It should come back properly eventually but I don't know what lasting effects there could be."

"What happened?" Charles suddenly asked, wanting to know what had happened to him. Both Raven and Hank looked at each other before Raven started to talk. She told him about what happened in the café, anger plain in her tone when she said Charles had frozen them in place. While he remembered this, he listened, wanting to know exactly what had happened so as to fill in the gaps in his memory from what happened in his time with Mark. Hank explained what the scientist had been trying to do to Charles, causing the telepath to wince at the thought of his telepathy being taken from in such a ruthless way.

"You okay Professor?" Hank asked, causing Charles to drag himself away from his thoughts.

"A little dazed maybe but fine, I think." Raven frowned but didn't say anything else.

"We can get you somewhere more comfortable so you can sleep better if you want?" Charles nodded thankfully, allowing Raven to help him from the table and into his wheelchair. He was surprised to find it still in working order but was glad all the same. It was surprisingly hard to find wheelchairs' that were comfortable and workable.

"We should probably leave as soon as we can." Raven started but Charles asked her to stop with a thought. While there were obvious changes in the mansion, it still looked just like the way he had seen it as a kid. "This was your home?" Raven asked and Charles blushed, realising he'd projected this last thought to Raven.

"I grew up here." Charles answered. "I don't think anyone will bother us for a while, no one ever did know about this place and I don't believe Mark would have said anything." Charles said, his mind drifting a little. His step-father had always liked his privacy and Charles knew from experience when asking to bring friends over, that the man didn't like strangers knowing about his home. It was one aspect of Mark Charles was almost gratefully for. His privacy could mean Charles might actually be able to use the mansion without people knowing of its existence.

By the time Raven wheeled him into a room, Charles' eyes were once more drifting shut. His thoughts on a comfy bed which might be able to soothe the aching of his body. Hank appeared, giving him a drink of water and a pill and as soon as his head hit the pillow, Charles was once more asleep.

…

"You need to talk to Charles." It had been nearly a week since Charles had first woken up and in that time, Erik had been avoiding the telepath.

"Raven…" Erik began but Raven cut him off.

"Don't, Charles wants to talk to you." She stated. They'd moved back to the apartment building just the previous day, Hank having finally said that Charles was alright to move although the blue furred mutant hadn't recommended leaving the apartment unsupervised yet. As it was, Raven was nearly always circled Charles keeping the Professor in bed or at least in his apartment.

"I know." Erik finally said. He had been avoiding Charles after the younger had woken up simply because the memory of what Charles had done to them in the café was still plaguing his mind. While Erik knew Charles wouldn't go in his head, the fear was still there. Erik thought of his mind as his own and didn't want or need Charles going through it and while the telepath had morals, what Charles had done in the café had shown that the telepath had a scary amount of power. Even Erik, who wasn't afraid of anything, thought Charles' power had the potential to be terrifying.

….

Charles was a little annoyed at Raven, if he was being completely honest. She had found him wandering his apartment, making tea, yesterday morning and had yelled at him before moving his wheelchair out of his reach so he was effectively stuck in bed until someone came to move it for him. Sure he could have made Raven stop but he had seen the surface thoughts of Raven, and everyone else in the apartment building and their thoughts hadn't been particularly positive about what he had done in the café.

Of course Charles understood why he had frozen them and he imagined the other mutants understood too. The problem was, they hadn't realised that Charles had the ability to do that and while not scared of him, they were a little wary. Even Erik, who hadn't visited yet.

That particular though made Charles feel a little guiltier than the others because he had promised never to go into Erik's mind or control the man in any way. He had broken that promise and even though Erik had come to help him, Charles still felt as though Erik may be mad at him. Something that Charles didn't blame him for at all.

A soft knock came at the door before it was paused open, breaking Charles from his thoughts. "Hello Erik." Charles spoke as Erik walked into his room.

"Charles, you're looking better." Erik didn't look overly comfortable as he stood there.

"I am feeling better, though I would be a lot better if Raven hadn't force me to stay in bed." Charles glowered at the wheelchair which was sitting by the door. Erik laughed at the look that crossed Charles' face, breaking the tension in the room.

"Chess?" Erik asked and Charles nodded, motioning for Erik to bring over the chair so he could move. "No, we'll play in bed. I'm not incurring Raven's wrath for no reason and you need your rest." Charles glared at Erik but resigned himself to being stuck in bed a little while longer.

Soon the two were in the middle of chess, talking as if nothing had happened. Except something had and Charles could feel the tension brewing at the edges of Erik's mind. "You want to talk about it?"

"I thought I told you not to go in my mind." Charles blushed but didn't lower his gaze from Erik's.

"You're broadcasting. What's wrong?" Erik seemed hesitant to answer so Charles moved his Queen on the chess board, waiting for Erik to answer.

Finally, Erik started to speak. "What you did the café, why did you do it?"

"I…" Charles paused, considering his answer. This was Erik though, nothing but the full truth would do. "I didn't want any of you to get hurt."

"We could have handled ourselves."

"I know but if someone had gotten hurt, helping me, I couldn't have lived with that." Erik frowned, considering what Charles had said as the game of chess lay forgotten. "I know I promised not to go into your head but you have to understand, Mark was dangerous and I couldn't have seen any of you hurt. Not on my behalf."

"I killed him." Erik blurted.

"I know, Raven told me." Charles replied. He had felt neither sad nor angry at the thought of Erik killing Mark, just nothing. "Thank you."

"He deserved it…."

"Not for that." Charles cut in. "For getting me out of there before Mark did something permanently damaging or killed me. I've thanked everyone else but not you. So thank you Erik."

"You're our friend." Erik said but Charles saw he accepted the apology from the gratefulness coming from his mind.

"I am sorry for what I did at the café but…"

"Don't, I would have done the same if that were me." Erik replied and Charles saw the truth behind his words. "None of us realised you were that powerful though." Charles blushed again.

"I don't like to use too much of my telepathy but when I have to there isn't a lot I can't do." At that, Charles half expected Erik to get up and run but Erik only shrugged, returning to the chess game.

"I do believe you have me beat." Erik said, causing Charles to laugh.

"I do believe I do, my friend."

Final chapter will be an epilogue which should be up in the next day or so. As always thank you for reading and please review.