Eli walked up to Logan as they arrived at their destination.
"That's it down there." He said, "There's enough space down there so you can land this thing without doing any damage."
Logan put the jet down then turned to look at Kathy over his shoulder and realized she was sound asleep.
"So who's gonna wake the munchkin?" he asked.
Eli looked at Charles.
Charles nodded and went to Kathy and gently woke her up.
"Dad… I… five more minutes" she said while half asleep.
"Kathy we're here."
"Here… where…" Kathy woke fully "Oh… we're here." She said sheepishly and got out of her seat to follow the others out of the jet. "Where is 'here' again?"
"Welcome to my cabin." Eli replied as they exited the jet.
"Eli, you're just in time, dinner is just about to be ready." a woman said as they came up to the porch.
"Leah, this is my niece, Kathy, her father Charles and Logan, a family friend." Eli said, "Everyone this is Leah Naprem she stays here and cares for this cabin while I'm away."
"Thank you, I am sorry to intrude on such short notice." Charles said.
Leah shrugged.
"Don't worry about it we're used to stuff like this from Eli."
"What… you make it sound like I do this all the time."
Leah didn't say anything just gave him a look that said "You kinda do." Before turning to her guests.
"Come I'll show you to your bedrooms then we can have dinner." She said to them.
They all started to enter the house except for Eli who had turned as if to return to the X-Jet until Leah grabbed him.
"You know she's going to be unhappy if you leave without seeing her." Leah said.
Eli sighed "Alright."
"She's in the kitchen." Leah said as she started to give Charles, Kathy and Logan the tour.
She finished the tour and came back to the kitchen to see Eli sitting at the table waiting for dinner to be served.
"I see she talked you into dinner." Leah said with an amused smile.
"Oh no, I talked him into spending the night." The girl, Zoe, replied smugly.
"Yes she's extremely persuasive and just as well I have to show Logan all of the security details."
"Yes, and you're a pushover." Leah smirked.
Eli glared at her and shook his head.
"You know when then shoe fits you kinda have to wear it." Leah added "Let's just hope that little niece of yours doesn't figure that out."
Eli shrugged it off with a chuckle.
"If she's anything like her dad it won't take her long to figure anything out." Eli replied.
"So he's an intelligent man." Leah assumed.
Eli nodded "With the ability to read your mind."
"He's a telepath?" Zoe cut in.
"Yep" Eli nodded "He actually runs a school."
"The Xavier Institute," Leah said but it came out as a question.
"The very one." Eli replied.
"Interesting, so does his daughter have powers." Leah asked.
"She just discovered her powers yesterday." Eli explained. "She was kidnapped by her half-brother and watched her cousin get shot by my dad." He continued as casually as one would if they were talking about the weather.
Zoe stared at him in shock and Leah tasted one of the side dishes for seasoning musing at how casually Eli spoke about teenagers getting kidnapped and shot.
'He is way too used to this' she thought.
"So… she has a half-brother?" Leah said once everything Eli had just said sunk in.
Eli nodded "If you want to know about that you have to talk to them" he gestured to the door as Charles, Kathy and Logan came in.
"Welcome, have a seat, dinner will be ready in a moment" Leah said moving one of the chairs away from the table to make room for Charles's wheelchair.
After dinner Kathy and Charles went to her room to discuss things. It had occurred to him that he and Kathy hadn't taken any time together for them to assess how much power Kathy had and what, if any control she had. Charles looked into Kathy's eyes he had seen how tired she was in the jet and was concerned about her.
"Kathy did you sleep last night?" he asked as she took a seat on her bed.
"Not well, I was getting dreams from other people and… and it was like I couldn't keep them out." She sighed.
"Let's see if we can't fix that." he transitioned onto her bed and pulled her into his arms his right hand coming to rest against the back of her head gently.
"Relax Kathy, I will enter your mind to see what I can do to help you with control." He explained as she leaned into his shoulder and his hand moved so his fingers rested on her temple.
She nodded trying to relax breathing deeply, but Charles noticed it wasn't easy for her to open her mind to him and if he was honest he had no one to blame but himself. He had never tried to touch her mind, so she wasn't sure how to let him, but he was patient and soon he got in to discover the hastily held barrier she'd put in place for herself. It was weak but he expected that, what he didn't expect was how powerful Kathy really was. He had hoped not to find a mind that was nearly as strong as his own in her, but that hope was instantly dashed when he got in and realized what he was dealing with. She had the potential to be as powerful as Jean or himself, which shouldn't have surprised him nearly as much as it did considering how immensely powerful her half-brother had become in such a short period of time. He would have to work quickly to keep Kathy in control.
"Let your barrier go down" he told her.
"Dad… I can't."
"Yes, you can my child you must rest, I will replace these walls with some of my own creation, stronger ones that will allow you peace until I can train you to control them and form them properly." He countered gently "I know I haven't been here for you like I should, but I promise it will be different. Just drop your walls sweetheart and let me help you."
It was with much hesitation that Kathy let her hastily created walls down and soon she felt her dad's soothing energy as he worked to form the walls she would need to function among others. She also felt exhaustion taking hold deep in her mind.
"Rest now, my child I feel we have much to discuss tomorrow." Charles said gently as he felt her slowly relax into him more and more.
She sat up long enough to let Charles return to his wheelchair before stretching out in bed to sleep. He hoped this would be the solution she needed to give her a temporary reprieve from her mind being bombarded with the thoughts and dreams of those around her. The mansion would be the true test, but tonight they were here, just him and her. He went through a door that connected his room to hers and began his usual evening routine, his mind filled with new fears for Kathy. She was powerful, her ability to create pockets of space where time seemed to stop was interesting but seemed to be the lesser of her abilities. She had some telekinetic abilities but what had overwhelmed him was her telepathic force. There was no way of doubting she was his daughter, from her brown eyes to her immensely strong mind she took after him in too many ways to ever doubt she was his.
Eli and Logan were walking through the grounds discussing what security measures were put in place to keep the cabin occupants safe.
"So what's up with the lady and her kid?" Logan asked Eli.
"She left Zoe's father… let's just say he was a slimeball." Eli explained "Sometime later I met her and offered her my cabin and let her stay her for free as long as she kept the place up."
"Sounds like a good arrangement… kid seems fond o' you" Logan pointed out casually shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
"Yeah, she wants me to become her new stepfather."
"Let me guess, you ain't interested in her mama that way." Logan inferred while chewing on a toothpick.
"Leah's nice but…"
"You're thinkin yer dad's gonna go after anybody you seem t' care about."
Eli nodded silently then headed back inside as Logan started a patrol of his own through the grounds of the cabin.
Leah and Zoe had finished cleaning and were enjoying some tea when Eli joined them.
"Do you want some?" Leah offered.
Eli smiled and nodded.
"Yes, thank you." He replied.
"Why are you angry at Mr. Xavier?" Zoe asked.
"What makes you think I'm angry at him?"
"The emotions are flowing off of you in waves, you feel used, like he called you as just another teacher neglecting that you're a member of the family as well."
Eli stared at her in surprise.
"What… do I have something in my teeth?" she asked.
"How long have you been able to sense this?"
"About three months, why?" Zoe replied as if there was nothing unusual about it then excused herself to go to the bathroom.
"You know what this means, don't you?" Eli asked Leah
"She's a mutant too… do you Mr. Xavier will accept her into his school, sometimes she has a hard time dealing with being bombarded with other people's emotions, she told me last week sometimes she can't differentiate her own emotions from those of the people around her."
"Trust me, if she is a mutant he will definitely accept her." Eli replied.
"Would she fit in there?" Leah asked, "Would she be safe from her dad?"
"Well the house does occasionally get blown up but otherwise she'd be safer there than she is here." He paused "As a matter of fact when Kathy and Charles return to the school I'd like you both to go with them."
"Are you sure he'd be open to that?" Leah asked.
"I assure you he will be." Eli nodded then turned away muttering "it's the least he could do."
Zoe returned looking confused.
"Why does Kathy seem so upset and confused?" she asked.
"Because she's had a lot thrown at her in the past twenty-four hours." Eli replied then paused briefly "Please don't bring this to Charles's attention this weekend, he needs to focus on his daughter."
"Of course, we've been coping just fine thus far, and from what Zoe told me that she picked up from them there is a lot they need to work on." Leah replied.
Eli nodded silently as Leah turned to Zoe.
"Okay… well girly I think it's time for you to go to bed." Leah said.
"All right have a nice evening you two." Zoe smirked winking at Eli before walking away to her own bedroom.
Leah rolled her eyes "I'm sorry about her."
Eli shrugged "I just hope she takes it well when she realizes she's going to be disappointed."
Leah picked up the cups to clean up the final few dishes.
"We should all get some rest you have a long flight ahead of you." Leah sighed.
Eli nodded.
"I noticed Logan didn't come in with you, is he okay?"
Eli looked at the door "He's fine he's just checking out the rest of the property."
"Is he a mutant too, I know Charles and Kathy are."
Eli nodded as Logan entered the room.
"Yeah… I got enhanced senses, smell, hearin' I can also heal from just about any injury ya can think of includin' havin' adamantium grafted to my entire skeleton." Logan explained having heard her question through the door.
"So can you heal other people or just yourself."
"Unfortunately just myself." Logan replied.
Leah nodded.
Eli stood up and headed to bed "I should get some sleep I have a long flight tomorrow."
Eli started out but stopped.
"You can go ahead and fill him in about Zoe." Eli said before leaving.
"What about the kid?" Logan asked
Leah shrugged "About three months ago we realized she was able to feel the emotions of others like they were her own, empathy I believe is what you would call it."
"Does Charles know?"
"No, and Eli told me to keep it under wraps because apparently there is a lot that he and Kathy need to deal with, and this is a distraction he doesn't need right now." Leah explained.
"He ain't wrong about that. There's been a rift tryin to form between Kathy and Charles and we came out here to try and resolve that between them before it becomes too much to get through." Logan replied as he set his boots by the door not wanting to track the mud he had gotten onto them into the cabin.
"Okay, hopefully they can figure it out." She replied as she put the tea set away.
"Feel free to do whatever it is you need to do; I'm going to go to bed." Leah sighed softly.
"G'night" Logan sighed as he sat on the couch to mentally reflect on what he had seen.
"Good night." Leah replied then left to go to bed herself.
To Be Continued…