Erik slid out from under the car he was currently working on at the sound of approaching footsteps, a cocky grin crossing his lips. "A little early in the day for a booty call, isn't it?" he joked.

Charles' expression was oddly grim. "I need you to promise to let me finish before you react."

Erik was clearly distrustful, but nodded once, albeit warily.

"A young man at the high school recently committed the crime of revenge porn upon your daughter," he explained, hating to be the bearer of this particular bad news.

For a moment, Erik said nothing, did nothing, rooted to the spot as anger rolled off him in waves. In the next second, though, he whirled around and slammed his fist into the wall. "Tell me his name."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Erik," Charles said. "Alex and I have handled the situation. We've discredited the rumours, so you don't need to go off half-cocked and..."

"The name, Charles," Erik interrupted, "Give me a name."

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Alex husked, then giggled as she straddled Emily's lap in the backseat of her car.

"Which part?" Emily asked, looking so fucking smug, her hands sliding under Alex's skirt.

"Don't be a smart ass," She retorted. "I have twenty-seven minutes left before my next class and I'd really prefer to make better use of that time than you saying something stupid and pissing me off," she teased.

Emily chuckled. "Bossy..." But in spite of the gentle reprimand, she pulled Alex in for a bruising kiss.

Before they could get beyond a mildly steamy kiss, though, they were interrupted by smug laughter. Both girls whipped around to see Ian Doyle looking exceedingly proud of himself. "Should've known you'd use the mutant to discredit me. They dyke thing, though, that's a nice trick," he drawled. "If you thought I was going to ruin Emily's shitty life, you have no fucking clue what I'm about to do to yours..."

Before Alex could even process what he'd just said, she'd been rather unceremoniously shoved from Emily's lap as she reacted instantly to the threat...by punching him square in the jaw.

"Emily, no!" Alex shouted.

"You're mad at me for defending your honour?" Emily asked, confused.

Alex rolled her eyes. "No, I'm mad because I could have handled that situation without violence," she said.

"He doesn't deserve that kindness," Emily growled.

By that point in their mini-argument, Ian had regained his feet. "Ordinarily, I wouldn't hit a woman, but you did start this..." Then, he threw a punch in return, sending her stumbling, her eye almost immediately swelling shut. That wasn't about to stop her, though, and she was immediately back on her feet. Before she could throw the next punch, Ian was suddenly flung six feet off the ground.

Both Emily and Alex whirled around once again, this time to find Erik marching towards them, keeping Ian in mid-air. "You, young man, must be the stupidest person alive to have come after my daughter..."

"Go away, Erik!" Emily shouted. "I can handle this!"

Erik wasn't listening, though. "You clearly know who I am," he addressed Ian, ignoring her, "So, you know I've killed men for much less."

Ian swallowed thickly, eyes wide in obvious terror, even from six feet in the air.

"If I catch wind that you've harmed my daughter or the MacTaggert girl, I'll find you and make you beg me to kill you," Erik said with false pleasantness in his voice. With that, Erik rather unceremoniously set Ian back down, unharmed but for the sheer terror he'd inflicted upon him.

Ian was in the process of standing up when he was once again flung off his feet.

"No!" Emily hollered. "He doesn't get to just threaten Alex without there being consequences!"

"Emily!" Alex gasped.

"What?"

Alex gave her a pointed look like she thought Emily was being intentionally obtuse. "You just moved him with your mind!" When Emily didn't respond, she continued, "You failed to mention your mutation, by the way..."

"I didn't know I had one!"

Ian took advantage of their distraction to make a hasty exit from the situation in which he'd found himself.

With that, Erik turned on his heel and marched off without so much as a word of explanation. Several long moments of silence passed between the two girls, but it was Alex who cautiously climbed out of the car and dared ask, "So how much of that did he see?"

"I don't know," Emily admitted, plunging her hands into her back pockets. "Do you think he'll say anything to your dad?"

Alex said nothing, going ghostly pale at the thought.

At the end of the day, Emily took the bus home to give Alex some space. And when she came bursting through the front door that evening, she was in an even worse mood than before. "Erik!" she shouted, waiting for him to emerge from his office. "We need to talk."

"Must we?" he said dryly, fearing they were going to talk about the revenge porn part of the story.

Emily did not seem amused. "I'll answer any question you have about what happened today, so long as you swear to me that you won't tell a single soul – especially Charles – about Alex."

He nodded once to confirm his agreement. "The two of you are dating?" he asked.

"Well, I don't know that I'd call it dating, but we're something," she said with an awkward shrug.

He nodded as if he'd suspected as much. "And the asshole threatened to tell everyone?"

"Yep." She jutted out her chin, daring him to tell her she was wrong for wanting to punish him.

He nodded again, the lack of a scolding reply surprising Emily. What he did say, though, was, "You like her." A statement, not a question.

And though she hated being vulnerable like this, especially in front of him, she'd made a promise to Alex that her father would never know. "I guess," she said with another shrug.

Erik sighed wearily, already regretting pulling at that particular thread. "If, for whatever reason, Alexandra MacTaggert likes you," he said pointedly, "Don't let her go." And without further explanation, he gave her a cryptic yet significant look, then stood and moved to leave the room.

"Wait!" Emily called after him. "You can't tell anyone."

If Erik found the request odd, he didn't say as much, though Emily could tell he did. At the very least, he made the wise decision not to voice it. "I can keep a secret," he said, though the ethical voice in his head that sounded a lot like Charles couldn't resist asking himself whether it was a good idea to even try to keep a secret from Charles.