Cassie looked at herself in the mirror she looked like a corpse. Her skin was deathly pale and she was boney, not skinny, boney as in her hips jutted out and looked like they could cut someone. After Hank had left Cassie had hobbled her way across the room to a full length mirror to see herself for the first time in what felt like years. She had shadows around her eyes, he blond hair was a rats' nest of curls that poofed out around her face like a dandelion puff. Her hair had once been long and naturally curly, the color of honey before. But now it was a nest of tangled strands, and a dull blond color from lack of care. Cassie was wearing what looked like the equivalent of a hospital gown it stopped at her knees and Cassie wished it was a terry cloth robe, because she despised looking at her body right now. She didn't know who this creature in the looking glass was, this thing's eyes were blue like hers but there was something about them that unnerved her. Those eyes were hard and that of a cornered animal's, she didn't like it. Its legs were sticks and covered in dark welts and bruises, the door opened behind her. Hank walked in holding a tray of food, in on hand and Dylan's hand in another.

Dylan's little face light up when he saw his aunt, while Hank's stomach churned. He was struck gain by the state of Cassie's body, when he'd held her he had been hyperaware or each movement he made afraid she would shatter like glass in his large brutish hands. Dylan let Hank's hand go and made for his aunt in a hurry. Hank grabbed the boy by his shoulder quickly. The boy looked at him in question.

"Dylan you have to be careful with your aunt she's still getting better, alright be gentle with her." Hank said quickly fearing what would happen if Dylan ran into Cassie. Dylan nodded and Hank let him go, the boy walked over to his aunt then held her hand in his tiny one. Hank watched the exchange with careful eyes Cassie shouldn't have been out of bed let alone across the room. But he knew that Cassie wouldn't calm down in the slightest if she didn't know where Dylan was and if he was alright. He watched as Dylan pulled Cassie back to her bed and made her sit own. Good Boy Hank thought gratefully. Cassie ran her fingers through the boy's hair; it was the same jet black as the scales on his body. Hank's curiosity was peaked he wanted to ask questions about Dylan's mutation and the events that had lead him and Cassie to Charles' doorstep.

Hank turned when the dean himself rolled in, Jean Grey close behind him. Cassie placed a protective hand on Dylan and gave the two newcomers a wary look, like an animal ready for fight or flight.

Charles simply gave the woman a reassuring smile. "Good Morning Miss Hall. Its good to see you awake feeling better, when I saw you earlier you were still in the midst of a terrible fever. Gave Henry here a scare."

Cassie's eyes flicked over to the large blue man, if she had been in better shape then she may have blushed as she remembered how she'd woken up. But not now not after everything she'd had to go through to get here, and as of right now she wasn't even sure if bringing Dylan here was the best option, considering who was here.

-Miss Hall I assure you should Dylan stay here he will be given the best of care he can receive for a young man of his abilities. Don't allow your feelings for Henry cause you to make a bad decision.-

Cassie jumped at the sudden voice in her head, then looked away from the man in the wheelchair partially in guilt knowing she was about to let her past with Hank corrode her judgment.

"Miss Hall my name is Jean Grey, and if you don't mind I'd like to ask what happened to you. When we found you on the road side a few miles away I must admit the chances of you surviving looked, bleak." The woman with the shock of red hair on her head said.

Cassie tugged at the hospital gown she was wearing feeling very lacking in the presence of this woman, not only was she tall she had looks to put a supermodel to shame. Cassie felt like the stray that had been caught digging through garbage now being compared to a pedigree. She wanted to cover her bag of bones body from this woman's eyes, actually scratch that she just wanted to find a coffin and hid in it, at least then she'd had a valid excuse for why she looked like death.

"Um, well I was walking with Dylan. We were trying find the school, and we were crossing a road when we fell on the ice and a truck slid into me-"

"Truck?" Hank gasped. "You were hit by a truck?"

Cassie kept talking not even deigning to look at Hank. "I was able to throw Dylan to the side of the road before I was hit thankfully, and that's it I guess." She shrugged not sure of what else she had to say.

Jean nodded in understanding. "Well Miss Hall we'll get you fixed up then we'll get you sent home and a place for Dylan here."

Hank watched as Cassie stiffened then blinked in confusion, Dylan clutched at Cassie looked between her and him in a pleading manner.

"Now we need not rush into anything Jean, let's have Miss Hall back on her feet before we make any decisions." Xavier said calmly.

Cassie nodded in relief and agreement, dreading the moment when she would have to leave, knowing when she did it would most likely be the last time she saw Dylan.

…

Days pasted and Cassie got better, Hank had her on a tight meal regiment. He over saw every plate brought to her and watched to make sure she ate every bit of it. She'd gone almost months without a decent meal and her body was evidence of it, as well as her now pea sized stomach. Hank also kept her in the medic bay with no visitors with the exceptions of Professor Xavier and Dylan. Hank was also never too far from, he had situated himself in the sickbay as well. Preventing Cassie from sneaking out unnoticed and from Dylan sneaking in when he should have been in bed. Cassie had been wary about Hank being so near to her after such a long time had passed between them. She wasn't sure what to think of him anymore, Hank was still Hank. He still read a staggering amount of literature, books with words that still made her head spin in confusion. He was still caring about everything and was also ready to help another out, even though he had a body of a beast, he was still a man. He was still the same kind hearted man she had known before that ate too many Twinkies. And Cassie just had no idea of what to do with him anymore, these were all things she had fallen in love with about Hank, she hadn't minded his feet. She hadn't seen a problem to begin with to be honest. At first she had been very curious about the whole thing, but then Cassie had gotten to know this man. He had been kind and just a wonderful man to talk to, and even though Hank had thought he'd had a bad body Cassie thought he was her own personal Clark Kent. That one strand of hair falling in his face always unruly. Cassie had easily fallen for him, it had been something that had happened as easily as breathing.

Part of her still wanted him, part of her still longed for him, even after all this. Cassie Held her pillow to her tightly as she observed him from across the room, he was reading a science magazine. His attention focused wholly on the subject he was reading about, every now and again he would make a facial expression of some sort. Ranging from surprise and delight to shock and disapproval, he always did that when he read something he was interested in. If Cassie wasn't too busy lying to herself, she would admit to wanting to just lay there and watch him, try and figure out where everything had gone wrong. Try and figure out where she had gone wrong, but something had been eating at her for awhile now.

"Hank."

Hank looked up at the soft voice, he noticed Cassie was awake and staring at him. He placed the magazine down and rolled across the room to her.

"Yes, Cassie what is it?" He asked, his hand touching her forehead immediately.

Cassie brushed it off without thinking, "Hank, what's going to happen to me?"

Hank stiffened and looked at her over the rim of his glasses, he could see the fear of the unknown in her blue eyes.

"I'm not sure Cassie." He said placing his hand on hers.

Cassie clutched his hand fearfully in hers, allowing herself to be comforted allowing the wall she'd tried to erect between them to slip.

.

Cassie woke up the next morning to Hank checking her vitals and giving her routine check up, when Professor Xavier rolled in with Jean behind him.

"Good Morning Cassandra you look like you're feeling better." He said kindly.

Cassie nodded and let Hank check her blood pressure, it had been weeks since she'd been rolled in here. She'd filled out and was almost back to her normal body weight, and to be honest she wanted to stay at almost, she'd always thought that she had been a little on the cubby side. But Hank refused to allow her to stay at being almost normal body weight. Her hair was also growing back out again, it was now close to shoulder length. Her skin was healthy as well no longer pasty white making her look like a corpse. All traces of the accident were gone with the exception of a still slightly sore ankle and a few very light bruises that simply refused to disappear.

"Well Miss Hall I have been talking with the rest of my staff and we have an offer for you." Xavier said.

Cassie blinked and looked at Hank for details he just looked at his charts not meeting her eyes, Cassie frowned slightly he'd clearly known something about the whole thing.

"And what would that be?" She asked.

Xavier smiled at her in reassurance. "We would like it if instead of going back home, you simply come here and work for the school."

Cassie blinked she hadn't been expecting that one, it was clear that her presence in the school was received with mixed emotions. Some of the other occupants such as Storm and a teenager named John weren't too thrilled with the presence of a full human, while others like the professor and Jean had no problem with her. Then there were people like Login who just didn't give a shit if she was here or not.

Cassie bit her lip, she only knew a handful of people and those people were mainly the adults and teachers here the only reason why John knew about her was because he'd walked in with a few of his friends one day. One of them had a slight burn on his wrist, when they'd seen her.

"Are you sure, I wouldn't want to be a bother to you." Cassie said politely.

Xavier gave a her a reassuring smile, "It's no problem Miss Hall, if anything I hope you accept. I think your presence here would be very beneficial to the children."

Cassie was confused. "How can I be helpful to you all, I'm only human I'm nothing special there isn't anything extraordinary about me."

Xavier looked over at Hank and Jean giving them both a meaningful look. Cassie watched as they both just up and left, no word said, no protest just compliance. When they left Xavier turned back to Cassie.

"Miss Hall its because you're human that I want you here. I truly believe that having a person who isn't a mutant would be beneficial to the children. One of the things I worry about being out here away from civilization, is that not only are the children safe from harm but they become alienated from the rest of the world. You have seen for yourself from some of my colleges that they hold no love for humans without a mutation. I want my students to understand that not everyone who doesn't have a mutation is bad. I want them to understand that there are people who are compassionate towards others, which is why I make this offer to you."

"I still don't know if I of all people would be cut out for this, I'm not a very amazing person in mutant OR human standards."

Charles just gave her a reassuring smile, "From what I've seen of your relationship with Dylan I honestly think you would be perfect for the job. Think it over at least you still are in need of a few more days of recovery before its ideal to allow you to leave if you wish it. Perhaps if Henry says its alright you can been given a tour of the school, make you own judge meant of it before you decide."

Cassie nodded she was curious about the only school for mutants in the world, and she wanted to know about the type of place she'd brought Dylan too.

Xavier left Cassie to her thoughts.

.

Thoughts comments good or bad?