Choices to make

A week later all was moving along nicely at the mansion. Andrew was still wrapped up but his mobility was greatly improved. Hank even removed the bandages around his face, much to Andrew's disappointment. The left side of his face was still badly bruised and his eye darkened. By miracle however, there were no breaks and he was able to open his eye a little bit. He was taking well to Sabella's lessons in an effort to actually read the books Kylie left him. Still though he quietly pined for his broken home and he began to think of options available to him once he was well to go out on his own. He was still firmly in the camp of leaving the mansion but his anger towards the others was diminished.

He did his best to be nice to Kylie even going so far as to compliment how she looked one particular day. It was an innocent gesture on his part but it did irk Logan a bit. Sensing some potential hostility Hank made a note to keep those two separate best he could. Even going so far as to thank Kylie for looking after Andrew but since he was able to move around on his own she could focus more on her studies.

Andrew hadn't thought of Kylie in any kind of romantic way until the prior night where he had a dream about her. Those images put thoughts into his hormone filled head further exacerbating any future contact with her. But for now he was down in the subbasement doing his therapy for walking.

Logan and Hank were talking upstairs in one of the studies about Andrew's continued stay within the mansion. Logan had caught Andrew looking at Kylie mistaking his intentions. Didn't seem friendly to him and wasn't sure he wanted someone who was probably going to leave to led Kylie along with anything.

During the week that passed Kylie neither avoided nor sought out Andrew. If they happened to come into contact with one another she would make eye contact and nod, but little else. If Andrew was going to leave then there was no reason for her to get to know him any further and it seemed to her that Logan didn't care much for Andrew. She didn't want to be the one to cause any problems and so she kept her distance. She was happy though to see Andrew coming along in his recovery. The two of them may not have been best friends, but she never liked seeing anyone hurt, especially a fellow mutant.

Kylie remained busy with her studies and was impressing Sabella with how quickly she was progressing. Sabella even commented to Logan that she believed that had Kylie remained in school and had a more normal life she perhaps would have been on track to attend an Ivy League school. She still hated math though, but was at least making progress.

Kylie remained unaware of Andrew's changing feelings towards her and his dream. She headed down to the sub-basement that afternoon in her workout attire to get in a pre-Danger Room workout. She turned on some music and began taking a few swings at the punching bag.

Andrew gripped the railings on either side of him and took the last few steps to the end. Taking a few breaths he pulled himself onto his chair taking the weight off his weakened leg. Upon closer examination the break wasn't as bad as Hank initially thought and gave him clearance to begin walking. But it took a lot of his strength to stay on his feet, hence the rehab.

Taking a few breaths he rubbed his leg when he heard the music. Wheeling himself out in the hallway he followed the music until he found the open room. He saw Kylie take a few swings at a punching bag. He hadn't seen her train before and was surprised that she had a good right hook. "Sorry, just heard the music and got curious." He said taking note of the attire she was wearing. Obviously she was going to get a workout in

Kylie hadn’t heard Andrew come in because of the music. She was starting to get into the zone of her workout when she suddenly saw Andrew out of the corner of her eye. She quickly stopped and walked over and turned down the music. Kylie was wearing a pair of black leggings and a black sports bra. She had a nicely toned body, although Andrew would be able to see a few more scars caused by her father and her time in the scientific lab.

“It’s ok. I’m just getting warmed up before my Danger Room training. Is the music bothering you?”

Well he certainly did notice the scars despite the more interesting things. He pulled his eye away as she turned to face him after she turned down the radio. "N-no. Was just curious is all, you do a lot of training in that room?" Andrew asked. He hadn't been in the Danger Room obviously but heard that it was some state of the art training facility. He didnt expect Kylie to be a combatant but the more he learned about her the more he realized how much he had underestimated her.

"I was just finishing my exercises, music wasn't bugging me you dont have to worry about that." He said. IF Kylie were to focus she would be able to tell he wasn't looking directly at her. Normally his eye was focused on a person but he was doing his best not to look at Kylie too much, given what she was wearing.

“No, this will only be my second training in there,” Kylie replied with a little shake of her head. “Professor Xavier wants me to take my training more slowly since I haven’t had really any real training with my powers other than self training and what Dr. Lucius forced me to do in that lab.”

Kylie took a sip from her water bottle and then noticed that Andrew wasn’t looking at her and almost looked slightly uncomfortable. Unaware that it might be because he found her attractive she immediately went on the defensive and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Why aren’t you looking at me? Do I repulse you?”

Andrew was glad Kylie didnt get upset with him when he asked about the training. He didnt know that Dr Lucius had her participate in training at that lab of his. Taking a moment to relax he thought of a way to back out of this as he wasn't expecting Kylie to be dressed like that. He was about to make some sort of excuse to leave when she asked why he wasn't looking at her.

"N-no it's not like that." He said looking at her. Which was a mistake really as more blood left his head. He could see she had worked up a little sweat, those leggings weren't helping him out either. "Just..i'm just distracted thats all." He said making his casted arm was over his lap. Probably the first time he was grateful for it. "I should go now, you dont need to me bothering you." he said rather quickly as his eye sparked.

Once again Kylie thought she was making progress with Andrew only to be disappointed. She didn’t understand what was going on with him. Kylie had been sexually assaulted and harassed, but she had never had anyone just genuinely like her and so she was completely oblivious to what was actually happening. She sighed and shook her head.

“Fine, just...go.”

She walked over and turned the music back up and went back to working out.

Andrew was not sure how to handle this, he was already struggling to keep his eyes off of Kylie that he wasn't picking up that he was making her angry. He wheeled himself back out into the hallway and retreated back to his room. Hearing the music play on helped disguise his urgency to get back to his room.

Closing the door behind him he took a deep breath, "real smooth." He said looking down at himself. THinking a bath would relax him he started up the water and turned on the radio trying not think of Kylie. That only made him think of her more and it made his heart race a little. "just get in the tub and it'll calm down and we'll figure out how we can talk with her without 'looking' at her." He said turning on the hot water.

Knowing that Kylie was going to get a training session in Hank was going to run the Danger Room for her to gauge how well she was coming along. He had gone on ahead and gotten the system prepped for her

Kylie was upset and angry again and just needed to get out of the mansion. She suddenly stopped hitting the punching bag and grabbed her shirt. She put it on and then turned and left the room, leaving the music blaring. She walked past the Danger Room and headed upstairs. She then walked out the front door and down the driveway of the mansion. She knew Logan was going to be upset, but she didn't care at that moment. In many ways Logan was more like a father to her than a friend...or at least a friend her age. She didn't have any friends and she felt lonely. She hated the scars on her body and the tattoo on her wrist. She rubbed at it as she walked aimlessly, but knew it wasn't going to come off. She hated her father and Dr. Lucius for doing those horrible things to her. She hated her mother for abandoning her. And she hated the way people looked at her.

She suddenly came across a small pond. She picked up a rock and hurled it into the water. She then picked up another and did the same thing. And then another.

Meanwhile, Hank would have noticed Kylie was late for her training.

Hank had gotten himself a nice book to read for the duration of Kylie's training. But when she didnt show up he grew a bit concerned. Wasn't like her to skip out on training so he got up and began to look around for her. Finding that she wasn't in the mansion he took a quick peek at their camera feeds. Seeing Kylie seemingly walk out the front door and out of the mansion he sighed thinking something must have happened.

So he began to search for her not alerting Logan. He didnt want Logan to use this as another excuse to kick Andrew out. He began his search immediately sending a message to Xavier.

Meanwhile as Kylie was throwing rocks nearby an older gentleman was sitting on the bench enjoying the serenity of the pond. Eric perked up hearing the splash of the rocks. He looked over and saw Kylie who looked rather upset. He would venture here every os often to reminisce about easier times with an old friend so was surprised of Kylie's presence.

"Does the young man have a name?" He asked assuming it was boy trouble. An attractive young woman who seemed to be lashing out he assumed relationship trouble.

A few minutes later Sabella found Hank. "Professor Xavier sent me to help you look for Kylie. I'm assuming we don't want Logan to find out. Do you think something happened between Kylie and Andrew again?"

Kylie was too upset to notice the older man sitting on the bench near her. She just wished she could disappear. She jumped a little when the man suddenly spoke up. She looked at him slightly.

"I don't need your help. I want to be left alone."

Hank had received a message from Xavier to slow up, wasn't too hdifficult to track Hank as he left rather prominent tracks. He gave a nod greeting Sabella as she walked over. He hadn't theorized that Kylie and Andrew had another fight. In fact it seemed like both of them were back on neutral terms.

"I dont think believe so. Unless they've been sneaking about i haven't seen them in the same room together in some time." Hank said. "they seemed to have gotten on better terms before now. I cant imagine what they could have found to fight about." Hank said walking alongside Sabella.

Eric lifted his hand in apology, "I'm sorry my dear, just a foolish old man spouting off. I will just sit here quietly and keep my thoughts to myself." He said. He adjusted the hat on his head

Sabella gave a little shrug when Hank mentioned that Kylie and Andrew hadn't really been in the same room together in a week. "Well, I'm not sure what else would upset her like this. Can you think of any other reason that might caused her to just up and walk out of the mansion? She's been doing well in her classes and has been enjoying her training. She hasn't expressed anything to me that would make me think she was unhappy."

Kylie was quiet a moment as she picked up another rock. She looked down at it for a long moment before she hurled it into the pond like the others. "Why do some people get dealt such shitty hands in life?"

Hank thought about it and gave a nod, if something were to trigger unhappy memories she would go to Logan. He felt that Sabella was probably correct that she and Andrew had a fight. "I'll send a message to Charles to make sure Andrew hadn't left." he said having not looked to check on him. "I can't fathom what they fought about, but i supose we'll find out soon enough." he said figuring Kylie would eventually return of her own volition.

Eric continued to read respecting Kylie's wishes. He looked up when she asked her question. He was quiet for a moment contemplating this. He certainly got a bad hand but he fought to improve his chances. She looked rather young so he felt she had a good chance of improvement. "Such is life but you can always improve said hand if you're willing to put the work into it." He said. He didnt normally care much for humans but there was something about this one that caught his interest.

Kylie sighed and gave a little nod. "I guess." She knew that ultimately her life was much better than it had been, but the emotional scars still haunted her. She just wanted to feel...normal. She was confused by her feelings towards Andrew, which upset her the most though.

She picked up another rock and hurled it out over the water. However, her emotions got the better of her and right after the rock was released from her hand, an red, glowing energy blast emanated from her palm and shot out over the water. Kylie immediately froze and her face paled. A little slip up like this is what had caused her to get kidnapped and taken to that lab and experimented on. She glanced over to the older man to see if he saw and from the look on his face she assumed he had.

"Listen...I'm not going to hurt you. Please, just pretend you didn't see anything."

Eric had a look of surprise when Kylie lost control of her power. He was rather impressed by the energy blast but hearing Kylie begin to panic brought him back to the situation at hand. "Please be at ease miss your secret is safe with me." he said with a warm smile. He lifted a hand up and the arm rest furthest from him groaned as the metal straightened by an unseen force. Eric concentrated setting the metal bar back in a more elaborate pattern.

"I spoke from experience about bad hands. Trust me you are in good company young lady." Eric said. He felt that perhaps he could recruit her for his own means, obviously her power would be seen as threat by humankind and she seemed to be going through a rough patch.

Kylie was trying to figure out the best place to run when suddenly she heard the groaning of metal. Looking over, she saw one of the metal armrests of the bench suddenly straightened out and then reformed into an elaborate pattern. She was shocked, but didn't run away. She was quiet a moment as she let herself calm down.

"I don't have full control over my powers yet. They can sometimes slip."

Eric lifted his book back up letting Kylie process what she saw. He wasn't quick to respond instead opting to let Kylie make the first move. When she spoke of inability to control her powers fully he lowered his book again. "Do you have someone teaching you? I find it helps to have an outside perspective to help keep emotions in check. Otherwise age becomes a valuable teacher given you have enough time." He said thinking of how he came to grasp his own power.

"then again losing control of your emotions happens to the best of us at times. Oh pardon my manners, my name is Eric."

Kylie hadn't yet heard Eric's name (or Magneto as he was otherwise called) spoken in the mansion and so she had no reason to want to stay away from him.

"I'm Kylie," she said after a moment of hesitation. "I just started living with some other mutants a little ways from here. There is a man there who is starting to teach me to better control my powers, but I still need more training."

Eric nodded at Kylie glad that she was at least opening up to him. He wasn't going to try and convince her to join him at this time. He felt that perhaps by getting to know her better he could spread his philosophy into her mind. "Lovely to meet you Kylie." He said. He assuemd she was talking about Charles and his little mansion.

"So long as you get the proper training. I am confident you will go far in this life young Kylie." Eric said. At that moment Hank's voice could be heard calling out her name. Eric smiled hearing this recognizing the voice, "it seems your friends miss you dearly. I hope i wasn't too much of a bother, i know how you young folk enjoy your 'venting'?" He said.

Kylie looked over when she heard Hank's voice. She knew she needed to get back, especially before Logan found out. She was surprised to realize that her anger towards Andrew had vanished during her talk with Eric. "No, you weren't. It was nice to meet you too."

She then walked off towards Hank's voice. Sabella looked relieved when Kylie appeared and looked unharmed. "We were worried about you. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I...I just needed to be alone for a few minutes."

Eric actually thought Kylie was a rather nice girl. Bit of a fiery temper but he chalked it up to her youth. He returend to his book making a mental note to keep an eye out for her in the future.

Hank was growing more and more worried and felt that perhaps they should have had Charles search for her via Cerebro. Along with Sabella he visibly relaxed when Kylie came into view. He took a moment ot compose himself knowing now to press the situation. She was grown and capable of looking after herself and obviously something had upset her. She didnt need to be lectured, "We can understand that Kylie. Would you care to return with us to the mansion?" He asked presenting an open invitation. He wanted to ask what had happened but didnt want to pry into her business.

Kylie nodded and walked with Hank and Sabella back to the mansion. She remained quiet on the walk back, choosing not to talk about what had happened in front of Hank. However, she did want to talk to Sabella. She asked to speak to her privately when they got back and so they walked up to Sabella's room. Sabella left the door cracked and walked back over to sit down next to Kylie on her bed.

"Am I horrible to look at?"

Sabella blinked in confusion at Kylie's question. "No, why would you think that?"

Kylie sighed and stood up and pulled off her shirt, leaving her sports bra on and revealing her scars. "This is why. Downstairs earlier I was working out and Andrew came in and he wouldn't even look at me and then tried to get out of the room as quickly as possible."

Sabella listened quietly to Kylie and then smiled a little. "I don't think he left because of your scars. You are beautiful Kylie and a very attractive young woman. I think he left because he was feeling attracted to you."

Now it was Kylie's turn to blink at Sabella in confusion. "What?"

Sabella nodded and looked at the young girl. "I think he likes you."

Hank returned to the mansion and decided to follow up with Andrew to see if he was upset by any means. Seeing that he had washed himself only confused Hank more. He seemed rather evasive about his interaction with Kylie but other than that Hank coudln't figure out what had happened. Of course Andrew kept his thoughts toh imself about Kylie as he was still trying to sort them out. He was attempting to quash those thoughts of her but found it difficult.

Figuring Kylie would be a while before her training in the danger room he figured he'd do another check up with Andrew. "We'll rewrap your arm and take another look at your leg." He said leading Andrew to the med wing.

Andrew followed suit and pulled off shirt carefully as Hank went about checking the cast on his arm. "So..how are things between you and Kylie?" Hank asked having finished wrapping his leg up.

"they're f-fine..just fine." He said rather quickly holding his arm up next. "we talked earlier about..things." He said having a very hard time remembering what they actually spoke about. He was too focused on Kylie herself to really hear. Hank continued his examination being gentle with the arm knowing it was still on the mend.

"You're leg is coming along nicely, few more days and you should be able to move without a heavy cast around it. You're arm on the other hand still has some healing to do. I know the deal was as soon as you can walk again you would leave, but it would be advantageous to await your arm to heal. Gives the rest of your body time to heal as well." Hank pointed out. Andrew breathed out but slowly nodded thinking he should rethink his plan. He was certainly benefiting from the diet plan he was put on. He could still remember what it felt like to go hungry but having a full belly at night was comforting.

Hank finished wrapping the arm and looked to Andrew. "I dont want to pressure you but i would like you to stay. If not for you but for Kylies sake, she does gain some benefit, you're the only person in her age range at the mansion who has a similar background. some socializing would be good for the two of you." Hank said being a little upbeat. Andrews eyes sparked at this which caught Hanks attention.

"Ok, im heading back to my room now." Andrew said getting up and immediately trying to leave the room.

Upstairs Logan was walking past through the halls and his ears perked up at Sabella's voice. Now he didnt like to eavesdrop on other people's conversations but it was Kyllie and he was protective. Hearing Sabella explain that Andrew may like Kylie irked him a bit but it only just confirmed what he assumed. He stepped away thinking a little visit was in order.