The sun slowly peeks through the cracks between the curtains Jean slowly woke up in her bed. As usual she placed her right hand on the other side of the bed, a now empty bed. She looked beside her to see Scott gone. A part of her feared that he wasn’t really back. Was it only a dream, Scott being rescued and discovered a cyborg?

"Scott?" Jean called out.

Scott popped his head out of the closet and gave her a questioning look. He had stepped out completely to show that he was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a long sleeved plaid shirt and a ball cap. He wasn’t wearing his customary sunglasses.

"Sorry." Jean said, "I thought you were gone."

She was relieved to see him standing there. Although, she couldn’t hear his thoughts she could almost feel his soul.

Scott gave a half smile and made a motion of going downstairs then an eating motion.

"You’re going downstairs to eat?" she guessed.

He nodded, he then pointed to her, then down, and then to himself.

"I’ll join you in a second. I have to get ready."

Scott nodded again, blew her a kiss, and walked out of the room.

Jean sighed as she lay down. The silence that he emanated was strong. The link that had bonded their minds had been non-existent for over six months. She never told him how much pain his absence had caused the team. Every night during the last months, she would either be at Cerebro pouring every bit of her power to search for him or sleeping from the exhaustion of searching for him.

The others had been supporting and had given her use of all of their contacts. Even Gambit revealed connections that he would have rather not shown otherwise. She looked at the picture taken before the abduction, Scott seemed so happy. It was a great improvement from the shy awkward boy that she had yanked from the chair on one of those first days.

Now, she would have to fight her way through the barriers that surrounded him. The barriers that were in his mind and in his soul. They grew closer, but he still maintained somewhat of a distance, even in bed. What else could he be hiding besides the fact that he couldn’t have children?

She got up and dressed herself. ‘At least he’s willing to eat now.’ she thought as she went downstairs. He had rarely eaten ever since he had come back. Hank told her that the implants could heighten his ablity to ingest foods completely, moreso than before, hence less waste.

Still, it surprised her about how little Scott actually ate. Yesterday, he had eaten only a cupcake and some mashed potatoes. And that was an improvement from the bagel that he had eaten the day before.

She looked around and wondered, ‘What else would he be hiding from me?’

Scott was lost in his own thoughts as he poured the milk into his cereal. He could still barely recall what had happened in the past six months. Every night after his rescue, he recalled something dimly about another woman touching him and laughter coming from the outside.

A part of him wondered if he should tell Jean about her. It wasn’t like he had been in control at the time. He wasn’t even sure that the other woman even existed.

He could tell that his team was worried about him. The looks on Nathan, Alex, Warren, and Jean’s faces were still etched into his fractured mind. None of them had known about his ... impotency until last night.

It was still so embarrasing to him. He knew that they understood his embarrasment. But, he felt awful about the way Nathan must’ve felt. Rachel's birth was impossible now. He had heard Nathan whispering Rachel’s name. Not very many people knew how sharp his hearing and eyesight truly was.

Scott just stared at his cereal as he pondered. He didn’t want any children at the moment. He still had to cope with his current state. If they did have children, how would he communicate with them? It would be years before they could read his handwriting and even if they grew up to have Jean’s telepathy, his mind would be unbreachable.

His appearence wouldn't be much of a factor since they would get used to it early on. How could he have a kid in his state? He knew that Jean would want a baby to hold, like Nathan had once been. He could still hear her thoughts over the now one way link. She longed for a baby, for Rachel. The question was how could they have one together and raise the baby too?

Jean told him, herself, as they lay in bed together. That there were alternatives.

Adoption? No, the services wouldn’t let a mutant couple with a bizzare past adopt. Although, he would have loved to get one of those kids out of the orphanage.

Surgery? Hank did tell him that he could try to undo the damage done to his body. No, it was too risky. He could end up suffering worse.

He could go to Sinister. No! That was out of the question. He would not deal with the devil.

There was one other option that seemed the most feasible and many people did it all the time. In fact, it was normal, in today's world.

"Scott?" Jean asked as she came in.

Scott nodded and gestured to the empty seat beside him. She sat down and took a bowl and the cereal box. He took a notebook and wrote, ~How are you?~

"Fine." Jean replied as she looked down, "What about you?"

He shugged and fumbled with his pencil.

"Scott, Charles is returning here, with Magneto."

Scott’s hands tensed and a set of claws shot up from his palms. Then, he hid his hands under the table so he could withdraw the metallic claws without upsetting anyone.

"He doesn’t know yet." Jean explained.

He looked at her and wrote down, ~I know. I'll tell them when they come. When will they come?~ He asked the latter question somewhat sheepishly.

"Soon." Jean said, "Charles just called a little while ago. They're having difficulty with their airplane."

A look of alarm appeared on Scott’s face. Jean calmly added, "Relax! Just some red tape and stupid proceedures. Besides, Magnus can fly the plane if something happens."

Scott took a deep breath and relaxed.

"You know that Nathan and the others won’t tell another soul about last night?"

He nodded and patted her hand.

"Was there anything else you need to tell me?" she asked as she held his hand.

His ‘eye’ looked away and he turned to just stare down.

"I know that you must’ve been through hell. I ... Asked Dr. Sampson to talk to you and maybe try to help you."

Scott looked back up and his eye flash briefly. Perhaps, it was a blink to him.

"He has dealt with other superheroes and he knows our ... unique family well. He even helped Alex when he returned. And ... He helped me cope with your disappearence."

Scott nodded and looked away.

"He’s very confidental." Jean said. "He wouldn’t tell me about what happened if you didn’t want me to know."

He nodded and took her hands in his own. His own hands shook as Jean could almost feel the tips of the deadly claws beneath his skin. Then, he gently kissed her hands. He released them and reached for his notebook. He wrote, ~I better go and do some training.~

Jean looked at the half eaten bowl of cereal on the table and asked, "Is that all you're eating today?"

Scott shugged and put his hands on his flat stomach indicating he's full.

"Okay." Jean said as he went out of the room.

Magneto sighed as he watched the young girl sleep beside him. It had been only a couple of hours since they left Washington DC. Yet, it was taking almost forever to take off. The airline’s restrictions had been hard to live through. He had even thought about flying Emily and Xavier to Westchester himself. At least, he would’ve been faster and *he* wouldn’t be so careless with their luggage.

Emliy laughed at the comment and told him that she prefered airplanes to mutant powers. Xavier had only commented that he would’ve attacted the combined firepower of the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Evil Brotherhood of Mutants.

Still, he felt angered at the fact that it was taking this long just to take a simple flight to New York. "Still should’ve flew there ourselves." he muttered again as he laid back. He wasn’t wearing his customary red and purple uniform, but a simple business suit that make him appear more normal.

"Excuse me?" a pleasent but haggard looking business man who was sitting next to Magneto ask, "Do I know you?"

Magnus replied, "No, but you may have recognized me. I'm on the news regularily. In case you *didn’t* recognize me, I am Magneto."

"Okay ..." The man answered as he looked away.

**He didn’t believe you.** Xavier said from behind him.

Emily snickered as she covered herself in a blanket. She didn’t sleep however. Her hands sparked as she registered the mutants around her. Magneto and Xavier were already making the mutant detection devices in her head go crazy, but could she handle all those mutant signatures in New York, especially where they were going?

She tried to close her eyes, but every time she tried, she saw his face. His pain-filled face trying to scream, but couldn’t. Should she even consider finding her partner again? She had managed to escape them with his sacrifice. When she returned with Magneto’s help to the base, he was gone. He too had escaped somehow.

Xavier had assured her that he would help her find him. There were several problems, among them, she didn’t know his name. All she knew was the name the goverment intended to give them. Actually, his designation number of X-97 or 'Niner' as she would call him.

She got lucky in a way. The goverment group had converted more of her body for their uses, but wasn’t so focused on controlling her. She was the ‘innocent’ beauty and he was the ‘deadly’ hunter. All her life, she had lived with them so they thought that she would be more willing and they focused all of their energies on Niner. She didn’t know much about him, except that he was taken away against his own will.

Would he even forgive her for what she did to him? She didn’t even know Dr. Aldler and Dr. Stevenson were testing out the mobility implants to see if he could break control. She started to sob. ‘How was I supposed to know he didn’t want it?’ she thought out. The way that she touched and felt his body was magic to her. And the way that he held her in his shaking arms.

He even sacrificed his freedom so she could get out and get help. She remembered the look on his face as he fought off the soldiers and his frantic motioning between punches, for her to get away.

"Are you okay, child?" Magneto asked as she looked up snapping her away from her ‘day dream.’

"I’m fine." she lied. ‘I will find you.’ she thought quietly as silence reigned yet again.