Hank listened at the door anxiously, he told himself he hoped Cassie took the offer. He told himself it was for Dylan's sake, since it was clear to everyone that Cassie leaving him wouldn't be the best option at this point in time. Dylan hardly ever left the medical lab, an if he did he just stayed in his room all day, he still didn't speak to anyone. He refused to meet people's eyes, and getting him away from Cassie was like pulling teeth. Hank told himself he'd made the suggestion for Dylan, even though he had his hopes up on her staying.

Ororo watched with accusing eyes as Hank paced the hallway in front of the door nervously. "You did this didn't you Hank. You actually think its a good idea that a human woman comes and stays with us?"

Hank stopped pacing and looked over at Ororo, with the powers to control the weather she was a powerful friend and a fearsome foe. With a large amount of animosity towards humans, Hank frowned at the question.

"Actually I do think it's a good idea, not just for Dylan's sake either." Hank replied confidently.

"How? How could bringing a non-mutant here be beneficial?" Ororo snapped.

"Because if mutants don't become accustomed to being with normal humans, and we do nothing but isolated ourselves from the rest of the world we will become nothing better than Magneto and his Brotherhood."

Ororo just glared at him then turned and stormed off, wind picking up and knocking pictures off walls as she went.

Hank rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"I'll talk to her." Came a voice behind him. Hank turned and saw the professor coming out of the medical lab.

Hank thanked him then turned back to the medical lab, Cassie sat on the edge of her bed lost in thought she was in much better shape then when she'd first came in. She looked almost like she was when they'd been together, her hair almost to her shoulder blades now light gold in color thick and wide natural curls. Hank looked her over slowly part of him hungered at seeing her again, her face was round her eyes large and expressive. Cassie's lips were full and just as expressive as her eyes, Cassie never smiled with her teeth because of the slightest of gaps between her two front most teeth. Something she'd been embarrassed about when they'd together, that and her body weight. Which Hank had never understood, she was no slender beauty. Cassie was all curves, wide hips and small waist and a generous about of cleavage but she still stressed about her weight because of the smallest amount of pudge on her stomach, flesh she hated with a passion. Cassie's idea of a good body weight was no pudge and ribs he could still play xylophone on, he'd argued with her like cat and dog yesterday before he'd won. Her body had filled back out, and he was glad but she still looked so soft and fragile. Cassie looked up when she felt someone looking at her, she met Hank's gaze and he as giving her such a pitiful look. Cassie didn't like or want his pity, she tugged at the gown she wore trying to hide her body with its scantiness, finally she just tugged the blanket over her lap hiding her legs that were still covered in yellow and green bruises.

"So am I aloud a tour of this place or am I going to be stuck in here forever." Cassie mumbled not meeting Hank's eyes.

Hank began to answer her then paused as an idea came to him. "I will if…"

Cassie looked at him and blinked 'IF' meant he wanted something and that threw her for a loop. She wasn't used to HANK MCCOY pulling a 'I'll do what you want IF you do what I want.'

Cassie was confused and wary, she knew she wasn't going to like this.

"IF?" Cassie asked stiffly.

Hank could see her body stiffening up ready for a fight, a lot had happened to make her this way. It was clear by the look in Cassie's eyes that she was ready to claw his eyes out if she didn't like what he had to say, he could still feel that punch to the jaw she'd given him. Hank felt Beast stirring inside him for the first time in a long time.

"IF you tell me what happened to you and Dylan to make you both come here in such a state." Hank finished.

Cassie glared at him, and Beast stirred once more. Hank was concerned Cassie wasn't a threat to him in her condition, even if she was perfectly healthy she still wouldn't be a match for him. So why Beast was choosing now to awaken was both confusing and alarming. Beast only stirred inside him if he was fighting or under extreme pressure, and yet here Beast was trying to find a way past Hank's mental defenses to gain control. Hank tried to determine why Beast was so active at the moment, but he couldn't place it Beast was clearly keeping its hand hidden from him… for now.

"And if I choose not to answer." Cassie snapped. She didn't want to tell HIM anything let alone all the stress she'd gone through for the past couple of months.

Hank crossed his arms over his chest, "Then I will have to insist you stay in bed, your body could benefit from the rest."

Cassie's jaw clenched she was mad and frustrated she hated the fact that he had power over her at this moment. It may have been small but power none the less, she was tired of being in the room all the time, he knew it, she didn't want to expose herself to him, she didn't like that fact that he had this control over her it made her feel powerless, and that was a feeling she hated more than anything in the world. Cassie almost bit her tongue when she felt her eyes burn and water, after all the bullshit she'd gone through she was STILL a cry baby.

Suddenly a large blue hand was in her face, Cassie jumped and found herself looking into Hank's eyes which were now a vibrant gold? Cassie watched as they flashed for a moment from the blue she knew to a wild gold color, barely aware of the huge furry hands wiping her face gently.

Hank mentally shook himself as he forced Beast back in his cage, he hadn't expect his other more wild half to make a lunge for control so suddenly like that. When he'd seen the first of Cassie's tears fall his stomach had dropped and churned he hadn't want to cause her distress. He'd even been on the point of just giving into her and showing her around the campus while letting her keep her secrets for now, when Beast had violently shoved his way past Hank. When Hank saw his/Beast's hand suddenly shoot out to Cassie's face, he'd feared Beast had meant Cassie harm , all he saw was the claws at the end of those hands going for her face. Then to be brought up short when Beast held her face in his hands and wiped the tears away.

Hank saw the look of shock on her face, he'd forgotten this was the first time she'd seen him move so fast. He didn't want to explain Beast to her, not yet at least.

"Tell me what made you walk over a hundred miles in the cold and ice with a young boy at your side by yourselves with not a penny on you to acquire food or a bus ticket. A journey which had almost killed you in the process might I add." Hank asked looking directly in her eyes.

Cassie couldn't look away she kept expecting his eyes to flash that gold color again also the hands cupping her face made it impossible. Cassie then took another look at Hank, this was the man she'd known before but there was something more about him now. It was clear Hank wasn't just furry.

Cassie bit her lip and relented he wasn't going to let this go, besides how long before it finally caught up with her and Dylan.

"It started three months ago." Cassie began.

…

Three Months Ago

Cassie sighed as she walked home from work, she had to stop off at the store to buy milk her sister and her kids had drank all of the gallon she'd bought last night. Cassie used to live by herself in her apartment in the nice part of New York City, but after Hank had left she'd fallen into a well of depression. Her sister Cara had moved in with her, one because her neighbors in downtown NYC had been bringing all sorts of trouble into the apartment building, two because Cassie was so depressed that she just need someone to be there for her.

Cassie and Cara Hall couldn't be more different than night and day, sweet and sour, a butterfly and a bee. Cassie and Cara were twins Cara being the oldest by thirty minutes. But Cara was the partier while Cassie was the nerdy girl who followed curfew by the second. Cara was fearless while Cassie was the crybaby, but it was Cassie who succeeded through school and got her Art scholarship and became a party decorator. While Cara had partied with one man too many and ended up pregnant and unsure of the father at the age of nineteen and a half. Cassie had supported her sister as much as she could and found her an entry level job at the place she worked at, their parents refused to help Cara while Cassie looked up to her pregnant sister for being so brave in keeping her child but also in surviving. While Cassie fought for her apartment in a safe part of NYC. Cara had fearlessly moved into an apartment with a new born child in Harlem, unfortunately Cara had ended up pregnant twice more in that apartment. Both times by different men, and their parents had cut themselves off from Cara completely while Cassie still helped her sister out. But also because Cara firstborn son had Cassie wrapped around his little fingers, Cassie never minded baby siting for Cara. She even like having the other two little ones with her. But Dylan had a special place in her heart, maybe it was because she'd been in the delivery room with Cara when their parents had refused to.

But after Hank had left her Cara had tried to be the one to take care of Cassie instead of the other way around. At first it had been an ideal arrangement, Cara moved in with her three children Dylan, Sasha, and Nico, into Cassie's much safer and nicer two bedroom apartment. The kids sharing one room while Cara and Cassie shared another. The bills were kept up on and Cara made sure Cassie wasn't able to wallow in her misery by herself for long.

It was a little cramped Cassie soon had to get used to the T.V in the living Room taken over by SpongeBob Square pants and Dora the Explorer, and shower time being cut short by little hands banging on the door yelling "I have to PEE!" Or "Aunt Cassie, Nico and Dylan won't let me sit on the couch!"

Her kitchen which had always been barren with enough food for one was now infested with Captain Crunch, Oreos, Animal Crackers, Kool-Aid, and Hamburger Helper, and other foods that she hated because they made her fat. At first Cassie hadn't minded it she got to spend time with Dylan and the other kids and she knew they were safe, she no longer went to bed with her cell phone on praying she wouldn't get a call from the hospital or worse.

But soon things went south, soon Cara's old partying habits followed her to Cassie's home. It wasn't until Cassie came home to Cara and Robert in the apartment that Cassie was yanked from her depression and brutally. Robert Wheat was Nico's father and a horrible man, he was skinny and pale while, but he like to pretend he was some drop dead gorgeous Italian mobster. The man even kept his hair slicked back and wore cheap suits all the time, and spoke with a phony accent. Even though the man was a ginger with more than a little Irish blood in him. Robert had always been bad news he looked at Nico like he was trash even though the boy was clearly his son same red hair and brown eyes.

Cassie had walked in to find Cara and Robert on the couch, the kids watching a movie sitting on the floor. Robert's hand was up Cara's way to short skirt, Cassie felt her blood pressure rise one of the rules her and Cara had agreed on was no Robert at the apartment. Sasha's father Marcus was a loud over but not Robert, Robert always said horrible things to her, Cara, and the kids. Some of the worst things to Sasha, he hated the fact that Cara had a child from a black man, he made the fact he was racist known to Sasha real fast. The poor five year old often went running to Aunt Cassie crying about something Robert had said more than once. Cassie hated the man with every word, poor little Sasha was the cutest thing she'd seen she didn't know how anyone could hate her, Cassie loved the way Sasha skin looked like sprinkled coco dust and she had the most beautiful brown eyes.

Cassie gritted her teeth as she saw the man in her home. "Cara can I talk to you."

Cara didn't even look at her. "Hmm?"

"Alone now!" Cassie hissed as she grabbed Cara and dragged her into their room.

"Cass what the hell is wrong with you?" Cara snapped.

"What is he doing here, we agreed no Robert HERE!" Cassie snared.

Cara sneered at her. "Why whats wrong with Robert being here."

"Whats wrong? Whats wrong do you know what he says to you daughter!"

"He's just playin besides she needs to toughen up a little, Marcus is makin her soft."

"She's five years old Cara, and he told her he preferred his coons stuffed and mounted, and she was better off that way. He calls her a little nigger girl for god's sake Cara, he won' even say her name." Cassie yelled.

She was so mad Robert always brought trouble, he'd almost gotten Cara involved with things she shouldn't have been. He was a danger to Cara and her children, children Cassie had helped to take care of and raise she loved each one of them. She'd been with each one since birth through owies, and shots, and tummy aches, an here was Cara being Cara and putting them in danger.

Cara snorted. "Right whatever Cassie you need to chill, ever since Hank left you at the altar you've been such a bitch."
Cassie almost lunged at her sister when there was a crash from the living room. Cara and Cassie ran in to see Robert smack all three kids on the back of their heads.

"I'm sick of watching this shit where's the remote!" He yelled.

"But it's our turn to watch T.V." Sasha piped up holding the bear her father had gotten her tightly.

Robert's hand met the side of her face, the five year old tumbled to the ground crying out in pain a split lip dripping blood on the carpet. He did the same to Dylan when he tried to defend his baby sister, while turning to roar at Nico who was trying to help Sasha up.

"Don't you touch that thing, no son of mine s going to help some nigger girl."

Cassie was about to kill the man, when Cara stepped forward Cassie felt relief. Finally her sister would throw him out, finally her sister would protect her children.

"You three know better than to talk back to Robert like that."

Cassie's heart stopped, her daughter was bleeding on the floor and Cara was defending Robert?

Things happened fast after that, suddenly Cassie was across the room dragging Robert by his neck to the door, Cara was screaming for Cassie to stop being such a bitch. Sasha was crying for her daddy to come get her, Nico was hiding his face behind his hands, and Dylan was yelling for Aunt Cassie to make the bad man go away. Cassie remembered being hit in the face and knock back into the couch, she remembered Robert standing over her a gun in his hand. Where he'd gotten it she couldn't remember, suddenly Dylan jumped an bit him on the arm, then Robert grabbed Dylan by his neck and began to squeeze. Next thing she knew it became a fight for life, and in this case it was their lives. She wrestled Robert from Dylan, and fought to get the gun from him, she was aware of Dylan on the floor cough and writhing. Suddenly the gun Robert was trying to put to her head was fired and everything went silent. Then there was screaming again, Cassie looked to see Sasha on the ground next to Nico a welling of blood making its way across his chest. Making the Spider Man Pj's he was wearing even redder, the world became much smaller after that. All she could see was the little boy who was her nephew fall to the ground. She didn't see Sasha backing away from her brother, she didn' notice Dylan gasping for breath on the floor, she didn't see Cara fall to her knees, all she saw was a pair of brown eyes staring at her in pain and confusion.

"I'm bleeding." Nico rasped.

That broke through Cassie's shock she shoved a dazed Robert out the door with strength she didn't know she had. Then she was across the apartment trying to stop the bleeding, while screaming for Cara to call an ambulance. A hand grabbed her arm and she looked to see Dylan his face was twisted in pain. Cassie watched in horror as part of his skin feel away to reveal scales one of his eyes water and transformed into a different thing all together. Cassie felt one innocent boy die in her arms, while she watch another one mutate before her eyes, and a innocent girl would forever be followed by this day as her family was ripped apart. One brother killed before her young eyes, another mutated, her mother sucked into a world she shouldn't have been in, and her aunt forced to deal with it all.

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I cried my little eyes out while i type this chapter up