Due to admitting that she was, in fact, a mutant, Bethany was forced to stay in a room at the CIA base, which was an annoyance to her. Every time her mind thought of her actual bedroom, she could only frown because all of her stuff was basically abandoned. Her books, posters, artwork, sketchpads, her life was back at that apartment, she did not want this feeling of being monitored due to her mutations. She did feel happiness since she met others just as unique as she was, especially with the transformations, but felt even more happiness for Henry. He found a woman that actually like his mutation and found is fascinating. He really seemed to like Raven. Bethany's mind went to Charles now, there was something about him that just made her feel odd. She had never had someone stare at her as he did, his eyes were so focused on her that Bethany felt as if she was the only person in that large lab with him.
A knock interrupted her thoughts, she sat up abruptly from her bed, becoming oddly embarrassed for thinking of some guy. Pulling herself up from her bed, "Who is it?" Hearing knocking still left her frazzled, as if her parents would be on the other side of that door.
"It's Charles."
A wave of relief flowed through her, but at the same time she could feel her heart speed up a little. She allowed him to come inside, watching as the door closed obnoxiously slow. Charles actually waited at the door for a second, a little unsure if he should come and bother her like this since she obviously had an issue with her mutation. But he was entirely intrigued by her uniqueness that he couldn't help but want to know more about her and her mutations.
"Hey, do you need something?" Bethany winced slightly, hoping that it didn't come off as rude as she thought it did.
Mistakingly reading her thoughts, Charles smiled, he stopped beside the bed, "May I?"
Bethany looked at the spot beside her, "S-sure."
"I simply wanted to come and talk." Charles took a seat next to her, basically having no distance between the two of them, "It is not often that I meet mutants and since Raven is currently focused on your cousin Henry-" He added extra exaggeration to his name, "I thought it would give me the chance to come to chat with you."
A small smile appeared on her face at his over pronunciation of Henry's name, "I mean, I guess that is fine. What is it you'd like to talk about?" Conversations were never Bethany's strong point since she only ever spoke with Henry, but the only difference was that she knew basically everything about Henry. Bethany bit down on her lip gently while she gazed at Charles, there was nothing she knew about this man. He was some mutant she met the other day and even then he did not really speak about himself, leaving a lot to the imagination.
Charles gave her a sly grin, "I can change that."
Straightening her back, she grew flustered and pushed at his shoulder gently, "Isn't it rude to read other's minds?"
He couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips, "Sorry, love, it's just your thoughts are screaming for me to read. I do not particularly like reading other's thoughts, but I do apologize for listening to yours."
"There's no need to apologize..." Bethany leaned back on her palms, she then turned to him jokingly, "Maybe I shouldn't scream my thoughts."
Charles could definitely make some sort of inappropriate joke, just like he would during his college days but his eyes focused on her birthmarks for a second. He was definitely very curious about them, he wanted to know more about how her mutations worked. He looked back up into her eyes, instead of the emerald green he remembers they were now a bright blue, almost matching his eyes own intense blue.
Bethany looked into his eyes for a few more seconds before she finally had to turn away, a feeling of rushed heat filling within her, "You keep staring at my eyes... is something wrong with them?"
"No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your eyes." Charles' voice was a little tranced, "It's just your eyes have changed. Blue must be your original eye color." His sly grin returned as he leaned closer to her, "It's a mutation, a very groovy mutation."
Without thinking, Bethany burst into laughter having to cover her mouth as she hunched over. His voice was far too serious for her liking and she was definitely embarrassed but at the same time, it was such a ridiculous statement to her. Oddly enough, she knew that he couldn't have been serious, it sounded like some sort of flirtation he used to pick up women. "That-" She started to calm her laughter, "That's something you say? That has never ever been said to me during my entire life." No man had ever even tried to pick her up or even flirt with her, so this was an entirely new feeling.
Charles was quite surprised by her statement, she was absolutely lovely and would act like herself, "Any man... would be lucky to have you in his life." His voice was soft and slow, full of seriousness, "You are absolutely stunning."
Bethany's chest heaved up a bit with her breathing, she did not know what to do, so in her nervousness, she decided to be mocking, "You're serious?" She mimicked his accent, which was not as terrible as she thought it was.
Honestly, Charles knew what he was doing, he was flirting with her but the second he saw how nervous and uncomfortable she got from it he backed off and decided to laugh with her, "I am serious, though. You do seem like a great woman, it is nice to know that I will be working with someone as magnificent as you."
Bethany could only look back at him as her face flushed with heat, he was the only man to ever compliment her like that. Henry was always extremely brotherly, so his compliments held no inner meaning to them, but Charles' were so different. She just met this man, Bethany shouldn't be falling for someone so fast. She was unsure how to even respond to him now, this wasn't a normal conversation she had every day.
Sensing her discomfort, Charles stood up, "Goodnight, Beth." Again, not even thinking, he bent over and lightly kissed her forehead, her bangs tickling his lips. With one last smile, he left her room leaving her with her own thoughts.
"I wish..." Bethany whispers to herself, "I wish everyone in this world was like you, Charles..."
***
The next morning, Beth woke up with a groan as the realization came over her. She was in the CIA facility and all of her clothes were back in her apartment. Picking herself up from the bed, she sighed and went through the clothes provided for her. She lifted the pencil skirt up in the air and scrunched her nose up, she was not a huge fan of skirts or dresses. Bethany even contemplated wearing her clothes from the other day, but Charles crossed her mind. Pushing her embarrassment away, she pulled the pencil skirt on, having to tuck the white button-up shirt she found, with one look in the mirror she could not help the grimace. She looked like her mother heading off to work, so she untucked the white shirt to put her own flair to this, and even pulled the sleeves up to her elbows. Bethany had intense bedhead as well, so it took her a while to even brush through all of the knots and tangles without ripping her hair out.
Bethany opened the door to her room and walked down the hall, other looked at her funny since her shirt was untucked and she had converse on. The odd stares from the agents did not affect her because it was her clothes they looked at, not her mutations. With a smile, she skipped through the hall but bumped right into Erik. His glower made her take a step back, "Oops, sorry." She was curt, hoping he would not be terribly angry with her.
Erik only gave her a sideways glance, he could not understand how she could be so annoyingly happy all of the time, "Are you heading towards Platt's office?"
"Yes." Bethany wondered if this was his way of trying to strike up a conversation with her, "I would like to know if we would be using a machine Henry and I created. It did take us a while to build, I just never understood the point of the machine."
"You do know you talk a lot."
Bethany winced back, "I do not... talk a lot." She looked back up at him but only saw this annoyed expression on his face, "Oh, come on. Don't you know how to smile?" She pressed her fingers against her cheeks and smiled up at him, "You should smile, it's better than a frown." Just as they stopped in front of Platt's door, she grabbed his face, having to reach for him and mess with his cheeks, something he had not expected, "It takes fewer muscles to smile!"
Charles heard voices from outside the office and stood up to open the door. His eyes landed on Bethany messing with Erik as the grown man swatted her hands angrily, but that did not stop Beth's smiling face. Coughing to interrupt the situation, Bethany looked over at Charles and dropped her arms to her sides. Charles' gaze stayed on Bethany a little longer than expected, then he faced the man, "Erik! You decided to stay." He had a proud smile on his face while looking up at him.
Beth, on purpose, thought loudly, "And let the gay moment commence."
Charles gave her a stern look but she matched it with a goofy smile, "I am not gay, Beth."
"Mmhm."
Charles moved back to his seat, "Would you like me to prove it?"
"No!" Bethany suddenly yells out loud while Erik sat down beside Charles. She covered her mouth as Charles chuckled.
Platt, not knowing what happened, scrunched his eyebrows together, "As I was saying, this is a machine that Hank and Beth have been working on that can track mutants."
Erik cut in now, "What if they don't want to be found?"
Beth crossed her arms over her chest, his statement was completely true, she personally would not want to be found. Now that she thought more about it, she did not really like the machine she helped create.
"If a new species is being discovered-" Erik continued, "It should be by it's own kind. Charles and I will find the mutants, no agents."
Bethany couldn't help but nod her head slowly, it would definitely be more reassuring if a mutant himself came and recruited other mutants. If she was confronted by men with guns, she would not want to follow them to a CIA base. There would absolutely be no trust at all. Charles glanced up at Bethany, hearing her concerned thoughts.
"First of all-" Platt had a stern authoritarian voice, "That's my machine out there."
Shutting her eyes and closing her mouth tightly, she gave Platt a glare, that machine out there was definitely not his. He had no right to something he did not build, whether he funded it or not.
"Second of all, most importantly, this is Charles' decision. Charles is fine with the CIA being involved. Isn't that right?"
Charles was giving an intense stare to Erik as if contemplating whether Erik was right or not.
"The CIA should not be involved." Bethany thought to herself, knowing that Charles could hear her, "I agree with Erik, Charles."
"No." Charles says looking back at Platt, only needing to hear Bethany's opinion, "I'm sorry but I am with Erik on this. We'll find them alone."
Beth could only smile and look down at her feet, she knows she probably did not really have a part in any of his decisions but the fact that he agreed with her was something she liked.
"What if I say no?"
Charles raised his eyebrows at him, "Then good luck using your installation without me."
Platt could only frown and comply with them, "Beth, go get Hank and bring him to the installation. Tell him we're recruiting."
Bethany rolled her eyes, always treated as some sort of secretary, "Yes, sir."
Trudging out of the room, not noticing Charles' eyes following her out, she made her way over to where Henry was staying. She almost tripped over a stack of trays in front of the door. Looking down, she saw empty boxes of Twinkies and a bowl with a few still in it. With a perplexed face, she knocked on the door.
"One second." She heard shuffling from the other side, a quiet apology, then Henry's head poked out of the door. Thankfully, he was fully clothed.
"Platt wants us out at Cerebro, we're recruiting-" Bethany turned to walk off but stopped, "And Raven, you can come too."
Henry covered his mouth slightly and grew embarrassed that his sister basically found out.