A/N: So. So, so so soso, SO. It has been quite a while. Almost two years to be precise. I am not going to make up an excuse, I just got caught up with work, and the more I waited to update this story, the more it felt like I should just leave it the way it is. But it was always there on the back of my mind, and I really feel like trying to finish it, especially because people are still reading it even after all this time. And also because I still love working on it!
So this is me trying. I don't know how often I will update this story, but at least I'll try and do my best!

I hope you'll forgive me dear readers, and most of all, enjoy this chapter.

Peter was nervous.

Not because he was heading to an unknown Russian mansion in the middle of nowhere. Not because he was on an extremely dangerous mission. Not even because he was probably about to risk his life for the umpteenth time. But confined in the luxurious passenger compartment of the black limo Charles had rented for the mission, Peter was trying really hard not to stare at the gorgeous woman sitting next to him. Feeling uneasy in his tight tuxedo, he kept pulling on his bow tie while glancing at Thea. The latter was nervously smoothing out the precious red fabric of her cleft long dress which was showing her shoulders and back. The full moon was making her long curled blonde hair shine with a metallic glow through the tainted window. Under the eerie light, it almost looked as if she was made of porcelain; a delicate doll peering into the unknown, as if her intense stare could light the dark forest surrounding them. Her knee was dangerously close to Peter's, causing him to twitch every time a bump in the road made them touch. And that tended to happen a lot, as the long vehicle was now driving on a narrow dirt road. In the driver's seat, Hank was silently turning the wheel, glancing at the two youngsters from time to time. After a long hour without any of them talking, the professor broke the silence causing his passengers to jump.

"Ok. Let's go through this again. What's the first thing you have to do when you get there?"

Thea nervously sighed and got ready to answer when Peter cut her off.

"Get in, find the papers, don't get killed. I think we got it."

He ignored Hank's glare through the mirror and winked at Thea. Even he could feel her anxiety. The young woman hesitantly smiled back.

"We'll be fine," she whispered, not sure if her answer was aimed at her professor or herself.

"Nervous?" Hank asked after a brief silence. As none of the young mutants answered, he slowly nodded and stared back at the road, rolling the window between him and his passengers up.

"I'm impressed you actually own a tuxedo. You look nice," Thea said softly, awkwardly trying to lighten the mood.

"It's a rental," Peter answered, straightening his jacket. "And don't get me started on how you look tonight."

She scoffed but didn't add anything. They were joking around but weren't fooling anyone. They were both so tense they could feel the fear in the air like a cold blade softly running down their spine.

"It's going to be ok," Peter eventually said, immediately hating how corny it sounded.

"I hope not," Thea shot back, looking out the window. As Peter looked at her raising an eyebrow, she explained herself.

"If something goes wrong, it means we're onto something." she had a sarcastic laugh. "I know it sounds crazy."

"It doesn't. But then again, I wouldn't be the best judge of that."

"Why? Cause "crazy" doesn't even begin to describe your behaviour?"

"Something like that."

They shared a knowing laugh causing Thea's head to lean backwards, revealing her pearl white neck and for the first time, Peter felt his heart beat too fast.

"Look Thea," he said without thinking, "before we go in, there's something you should know. I-"

He was interrupted by the window rolling down.

"We're here," Hank simply said, ignoring Peter's scowl. The young professor got out of the car and mimicking the perfect driver, opened Thea's door and helped her out of the vehicle.

"That's ok," Peter moaned, "I'll get my own door."

Giving in to a rare moment of tenderness, Hank put his hands on the young woman's shoulders.

"You two are going to be ok. I'll be right here if you need me."

Touched by her mentor's concern, Thea smiled back, trying to sound reassuring.

"I know. Thank you for everything Hank."

"Don't thank me yet," he sighed, taking a step back. "I'll see you very soon."

She nodded back as Peter was joining them. The young men helped her put on a heavy black coat. They only had to walk for about a thousand feet but the biting cold was already making her shiver. Grateful, she grabbed his arm and the couple turned to the mansion. Peter couldn't hold back a whistle. It was so massive they could barely see where its edges stopped in the dark night despite the fancy tall floor lamps revealing the yellowish stone.

"Here goes nothing," Peter whispered as they started walking up the cobbled alley.

There were a lot of expensive cars parked were Hank had dropped them but they were the only two walking up to the mansion/castle. The dark forest surrounding the place was not helping with the gloomy mood. Throwing paranoid looks around her, Thea straightened her grip on Peter's arm.

"You ok?" the young man asked, trying to look casual in case they were already being watched.

"Yeah," Thea answered, "it's just... something's off."

"What is it?"

"This place is supposed to be filled with people already, but I can't... feel them. It's like they-"

She never got to finish her sentence. As the couple was taking another step, they both suddenly felt a stabbing pain in their whole body and fell to their knees, gasping for air. The pain left them speechless for a few seconds until it started to fade away, only leaving a sore echo in their chest.

"The hell was that?" Peter breathed out.

Thea shook her head, still trembling. She looked back, but Hank was already out of sight. They were on their own. As she was still trying to catch her breath, Peter carefully got to his feet and helped her up.

"Is that what I think it is?" Thea asked, already knowing the answer. With a dark look on his face, the young man held his hand in front of him, trying to vibrate it. But absolutely nothing happened.

"Shit," he mumbled. "We have to go back."

"No!" Thea whispered furiously, her thoughts twirling in her mind. She grabbed Peter's sleeve, keeping him from walking away. "We knew this was a possibility. We're so close, we can't go back now!"

"I can't protect you like this Thea! And what if there were cameras out there? Then we're already made!"

"If that was the case they would have already come for us. I've lived without using my powers for almost 26 years, I can handle this."

The young mutant looked away, running a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Come on Pete, I can't do this without you," Thea whispered, wrapping her arms around herself, still shaking from the cold and the violent pain Stryker's technology had caused her. Peter looked over at his friend, mumbled a few things to himself and eventually sighed.

"If I die here, I swear to God I'm gonna be the most pissed off ghost in History."

Thea couldn't hold back a thin smile before reaching out to Peter's arm again. Even more scared than they were before, they approached the massive door and entered the mansion. Once inside, a tall blonde man standing straight in his red and blue uniform smiled at them.

"Good evening," he said with a thick Russian accent. "Names please?"

"Thea and Peter Johnson." Thea casually answered with a pretty smile. It was the name she used when she was working with Isabelle, the woman who had invited her to the fundraising. They had agreed it would feel more comfortable and natural to go in with their real first names. And as a couple. That part had been suggested by a very amused Scott during their brainstorming.

The steward had a polite smile and started looking through a heavy red-leathered book. Thea and Peter held their breaths as the blonde man read the names on his list at an excruciating slow speed. His finger ran through the lines until it finally came to a stop. He looked up at the couple, his brows almost inconspicuously furrowed, then gracefully opened his right arm toward the main room.

"Enjoy your evening."

The two young mutants let out a discreet sight of relief and nodded before entering the room.

The interior matched the already presumptuous exterior of the mansion. From the high stone ceiling were dangling countless gigantic crystal chandeliers, shining their yellow light on the massive room filled with the dressed-up crowd. A long red carpet was unravelling in the main aisle, from the entrance to the end of the room, where a large stage was. Thea looked up. The whole room was surrounded by a slightly darker gallery where the guests could go up and enjoy the view of the room filled with chattering and chimes from the glasses of champagne being emptied.

She was about to point it out to Peter to get a better view, when she noticed one particular guest in the crowd.

"Oh my God," she whispered, a wind of panic taking over her. "Abort, abort!"

"What?" her plus-one whispered back, looking around to spot an incoming danger. "What is it?"

Putting her delicate hand on her forehead to hide her eyes in a very noticeable way, Thea turned to Peter and leaned into him.

"Norman is here."

Peter raised an eyebrow.

"Ok. I have two questions. Who's Norman, and why would anyone ever want to call their son Norman?"

"Stop messing around!" Thea scolded him, hitting his arm with a flick of her fingers. "He's… he was my… colleague. God, I completely forgot he worked with Isabelle, of course he was going to be here!"

"Hm," Peter squinted, even more suspicious. "Judging by how freaked out you are, either you killed this guy's dog and ran away, or you used to sleep with him and also ran away. Either way, I need to meet him."

"Peter," Thea started with a threatening tone. "Don't you da-"

But their bickering had done the exact opposite of what Thea had hoped. Everyone around them was now looking at the couple.

"Thea?"

The grave, soft voice had arisen from behind Peter. The latter winked at Thea, already guessing who it was. Let's meet this Norman. With a name like his, he can't be that-

As he turned around, Peter's thought was stopped with a gasp. Even as a straight man, he had to admit that the guy standing before him was a magnificent specimen of the human kind. He had to lift his face to meet his dark eyes and long eye-lashes. It seemed like his jaw line could cut through steel and his charcoal black hair was neatly cut above his large forehead. His figure was thin but the confident way he walked with both arms far apart from his sides left no doubt to how muscular he was. There was something dark and powerful emanating from him, and Peter's upper lip instinctively curled into a defensive grin.

Norman walked right past Peter as if he hadn't seen him -and he probably didn't- and stopped in front of Thea.

"It is you," he said, a look of shock on his face. "How long has it been?"

Thea had an awkward smile. As soon as the man had stepped toward her, she had remembered everything about him as if she had last seen him the day before. The way he always kept his voice low, as if everything he said was confidential. The way he would only allow himself a half-smile when he thought no one was looking. The way he used to look at her with a frown, his whole body tensed as if he was worried she was going to explode any minute. Norman was on the list of the very few man Thea had truly loved. He had always had this way of making her feel safe, and the sensation of his strong arms locked around her felt almost too real when he put a warm hand on her shoulder to greet her.

"Norman," she breathed out, "I didn't expect to see you here!" she said, dodging his first question. "How are you doing?"

"Good," he seemed to hesitate, but quickly recovered. "Good," he repeated, as if he was trying to convince himself. "What about you, where have you been?"

"Here and there," she replied with a vague wave of her hand.

A sudden pain in her stomach made her wince. She was remembering how things ended with Norman. Or, more accurately, how they didn't. A rush of guilt made her blush, especially seeing how cordial Norman was acting now.

Misinterpreting her red cheeks, Norman moved closer to her and lifted the corner of his lips- the equivalent of a smile for him-.

"You look stunning, Thea. Time has been kind to you."

His words acted like an electroshock. She suddenly realised that one person was missing from the conversation. "Oh! Have you met Peter?"

Norman blinked a couple times, reluctantly took his eyes off the young woman and finally noticed Peter, whom Thea had dragged next to her.

"No, I haven't," he simply replied, his brow lightly furrowing. "Nice to meet you Peter," he continued while vigorously shaking the young man's hand. "Do you two work together now?"

"Husband," Peter almost screamed at Norman, causing Thea to jump and the people around them to stare at them. Again. "I'm her husband. She's my wife. We're together," he burst out while putting an arm around a very uncomfortable Thea.

"I see," the laconic man said, glancing at Thea with an inquisitive look. The both of them exchange an amused and knowing glance that Peter couldn't help but notice.

"Let's have a drink, shall we?" the young mutant said with a forced smile, pulling Thea toward the buffet. "Nice to meet you, Norman."

The latter narrowed his eyes and watched them walk away.

"I thought you wanted to meet him?" Thea asked with a perfidious tone, as she removed her elbow from Peter's grab.

"Yeah, well I didn't expect him to be Mister MacHandsome now did I? Besides, we're supposed to blend in with the guests, not flirt with them," he added, bitter.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Thea furiously whispered, trying her best not to yell at her friend.

"Please. You know exactly what I mean. I don't need to read minds to see that whatever you two had was real, and it probably still is."

Thea took a step back, hurt by Peter's words. How could he jump to conclusions so fast? Did he not know her at all, even after all this time? Warm tears began to blurry her vision. Refusing to give in, she inhaled loudly.

"For God's sake Peter, remember why we are here and stop acting like a child."

He glared at her but didn't reply.

"What happened between you two anyway?" he mumbled, picking up a glass of champagne.

"Pardon me if I'm not in a sharing mood, right now," she gritted.

He absently sipped on his champagne.

"Fine," he eventually said with a blank stare, before slowly walking away.

"Peter…"

"I'm going to look around, see if I can find anything useful. You keep mingling with the others. You're better at that than I am."

Thea sighed as the silver-haired mutant disappeared into the crowd. This was going to be a long night.