CATACLYSM || X-Men

15| she's got you

    "I need to rethink your admittance to the institute," she couldn't help but smile, picking up a muffin from the table.

    "You love having us around. Admit it," Sean smirked.

    "You wish! It's like having two little brothers but never a way out," she shot back.

    That's pretty much how their days had gone. They had breakfast together, sometimes dinner. Rose continued making her way through the Xavier library, Hank continue to tinker away, occasionally with Rose's help. While she missed using her electric talents, and how at home she felt with aviation, she researched and helped to train the two youngest. When she had free time after spending time with Charles, anyway.

    It was a routine, and while she kept her house and plane in Florida as a safe house of sorts, she officially moved in to what used to be the library. It was only a couple of doors down from her new classroom, where Charles asked her to teach history and physics, the latter with Hank.

    Not that she felt she was at all qualified, but her love of research and learning helped with getting better in that area.

    "Are you absolutely positive that bread belongs on the floor or is it a personal choice, Alex?" Charles's amused voice entered the room with him, making all four of them look to him.

    "When Rose is being stupid, yeah," he shrugged.

    "I would appreciate it if you left every room the way you found it," Charles smiled, wheeling himself beside the only female of the team.

    "Moira?" she asked softly, seeing the way his smile didn't reach his eyes.

    "I'm afraid Moira has official left the team," he confirmed, the three other boys sharing a last look. "She'll be a great agent without us."

    "I'm sorry," she told him, knowing that Moira's acceptance of mutants and mutations was important to him; she gave him hope.

    "Not to worry. We'll be up and running in no time, and I need you all to be prepared for more students."

Westchester, New York, 1963

Charles's school did not start off as well as they were all hoping. Students were few in number, but high in maintenance. Rose started thinking it was going to get worse as more mutants reached puberty and realised their identities.

    "Wait!" she shouted, absorbing the kinetic energy of the wind the kid was attempting to control. He was similar to Riptide, but he had no grasp on how to do it. "Okay, we need to take a break. This isn't working," she sighed as they both fell onto the bench.

    "I'm sorry, Miss Smith—"

    "First of all, it's Rose or Rosie. And second, it's not your fault, all right?" she put her arm on the back of the bench seeing him move a little closer. "We'll get it. I just need some coffee before we do, okay? Grab some food, and I'll see you in the entryway in twenty minutes," she smiled, making the twelve year-old nod before he ran off back towards the mansion.

    Once he was out of earshot, she let out a sigh, leaning her head back against the bench.

    "I thought you could do with this," she turned her head to see Charles, one of his hands on the control, while the other carried her mug, the smell of black coffee overwhelming even at the small distance between them.

    "You read my mind," she smiled, getting up and accepting the mug from him.

    "Actually, I didn't," he replied, smiling to himself.

    "Ah, yes, our deal," she nodded, the two making their way back towards the building. "How are you doing today?"

    Letting out another chuckle, Charles shook his head as they took the turn on the path. "How about I just let you know when things get bad?"

    "I mean, you won't," she shrugged, a knowing smile on her face.

    "You're quite right."

    "This whole thing would be much easier if the telepath stopped being selfish with his powers, you know," she commented, Charles letting himself smile as his free hand reached up for hers. At the brush of their fingers, she took his hand, both of them stopping on the path.

    "You don't really want to take this chance," he spoke the words they'd both been thinking all this time, since the year before, when she agreed to stick around even through their struggle to get the school going. On top of that, he finally expressed what she meant to him, something she was afraid of, but felt she needed to let happen once again.

    "I know what I'm getting myself into," she shrugged. "Charles, if you want to push me away, just do it. Don't tell me it's for my own benefit."

    "I just don't want to see you be in pain," he looked up at her, not entirely understanding why she wanted to talk about this again, not even through her mind.

    "Let me worry about that. It's my pain, not yours."

    "You've practically made me share mine with you, so why shouldn't you share yours with mine?!"

    "Because you won't understand!" she exclaimed, pulling away from him. They could both hear the crackle of the air around them as her emotions got the better of her and charged the atmosphere. "You think you know the best for everyone, but you're so hellbent on being a martyr that you forget to see when people actually want to cry about you. Just accept than we're here for you. You don't have to like it, but you're stuck with us. Stop making it hard to love you."

    He knew he was being stupid. But God, he was in so much pain, and he saw her have to deal with it all the time. The nights when she helped him into bed with Hank because he was too tired or in pain, or when he had a spare moment to stop putting on a front. When his true feelings could appear on his face, out of the sight of the other students. When he didn't realise she was paying attention.

    Restless nights spent with midnight snacks in the kitchen, reminding him of Raven. Games of chess in the sunlight outside, reminding him of Erik. Rose and Hank laughing over a fond memory, or over a research blunder, a mishap in the lab, they were all nice, but it reminded him of a time before he lost almost everything.

    Almost.

    And now one of the last things he had seemed to be ready to leave if he wouldn't get his act together.

    "I'm just trying to make the choice easy for you," he finally said, looking up at her, but she bent down, leaning on the arm of his chair with her free hand, while the scent of the coffee overpowered his other senses.

    "Stop trying. You're failing."

    Her eyes were so stern, so stubborn. They reminded him of Erik. They were similar in their stubbornness, and it had been the main reason Charles understood their sibling bond.

    "All right. I'm sorry. I have you. You have me," he finally spoke, hand reaching up to her face. She smiled, her free hand doing the same before they pulled each other into a soft kiss.

    He had her. She had him. They had each other.