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(The Bagluv Family)







Viktor was sitting in the library, at the table he and Shandra had used regularly for their lessons. He was getting help with his english and he was teaching her Russian. It was a nice little set up. Although today would run a little bit different. Viktor had a surprise for red headed friend today.

"Ah, Allo Shandra. I see joo made et early. Come seet. I have somezing for joo today." The usual newspaper, and various children books they had been using learning aids were not there, instead Viktor had a nice little smile on his face as he slid Shandra an envelope. "Go ahead. Open et. Ah zink joo will lick what's inside."











Shandra took the envelope after a moment. She always hated opening the things cause she was never very neat about it. After her finger had got itself in there, she simple tore through the rest of the sealing that had probably been done to protect the thing inside. Her green eyes widened as she pulled out an airplane tickets first.

"Russia? You're going back to Russia?" For a moment that didn't seem much like a gift, but she should have been expecting it. Everyone left sooner or later and it seemed that this one friend of hers was no exception.

Out of morbid curiosity she pulled the rest of the things. His passport...another ticket, her passport...wait. Her passport?

"How...how did you get this?" Shandra asked with her forehead drawn together to try and figure out just how he'd gotten her something like this. Forget the reason why, she wanted to know how. "...When did you get my picture...?"











Viktor was giggling at her shock and excitement. Did she really doubt his abilities? "Ah, well we are een Amereeca. Even X-Men need passports to go out of country. You went to England yes? Student ID, maybe. I do not know. I ask around to what take to get passport made and had them made." He started to scratch the back of his head and shrugged again.

"Ah but yes. I want to go home and visit my family. And you have been picking up russian language well. Best way you learn more is in Russia no? Just same as I learn more Engleesh in Amereeca." He stared at her with a playful smile. "So Shandra... you come see home land wiz me? Meet me large family?"










Shandra gave him a timid smile. Honestly she did like to travel, however flying and her had never really found a way to coexist peacefully -nerve wise. Even though she knew she could survive if the plane was having malfunctions she hadn't actually tested that theory yet. And aside from that she'd be relatively by herself in a brand new...cold...country.

'Oh hell...it's going to be freezing there...isn't it?' Her face started to show her thoughts, about the idea of not liking something -the cold, before she tried her best to cover it up.

The small smile on his face was making it hard to say no, however...besides they'd had relatively nothing to do till school started up unless there was an emergency or something. Still...the cold...

"I..." she tried to say she couldn't, tried to make up an excuse but it just wasn't coming out. "...gotta go shopping for warm things...don't I?"







With an excited look he leaped up and grabbed the sides of Shandra's face and kissed the air beside her face. "Da... Da warm clozes. You will be zankful you have zem. You should go now we fly out early en morning. I go call me brozer Marco and tellz him I haz a friend coming too!" A very excited Viktor then left the library, with a jump in his step.

The flight to russia was... well long. They were traveling for right close to a full day between their lay overs and the like. Finally free of the airport and processing, Viktor wrapped an arm around Shandra's shoulder and lead her out side to where seven men were standing in front of a van waiting for someone. "Viktor!" The eldest said coming forward giving his little brother a hug and then ruffling his hair. "Ah I see you brought your girlfriend. Is cute, you better keep eye on her. We so used to sharing everzing."

"Oh... Marco zis Shandra. She is friend, she es not girlfriend." He hugged his brother, and watched as two others came and grabbed both his and Shandra's luggage.

Viktor then turned to Shandra. "Shandra zis eldest brother Marco." He started pointing down the line and naming each one as the time came.

"...Brody, Mikhail, Tasha, Pavel, Cheslav, and Konstantin." Victor looked around and turned back to Marco. "Marco... where is Nikolai?"

"Oh you know ole Nikki..." Viktor simply nodded and the two left it at that. "Well if she ain't your gal..." Marco wrung his arm around Shandra's and started walking her to the van. "Ima take her off your hands. You can sit up front wiz me sweets."




The flight had been so boring, so tired, that she'd simply fallen asleep. At least that way she didn't have to be on edge...still she'd woken up a few times when there was a larger movement and when they had to switch but for the most part she'd remained in the land of the in between.

And when they'd finally gotten to Russia she'd gotten a little surprise. First...she was going to have to remember eight different names to people she probably was never going to see again. Oh, joy...she was going to fail at that and she knew it. Second, his family seemed really touchy feely...she wasn't used to that.

She gave the wan, "help me" smile that most people didn't pick up as anything other than the polite person till they looked deep into the eyes to see the girl attempting not to pull away. Still, at least the arm wrapped around her was warm and it was warming her jacket up. Geeze, people who lived in the cold continuously must have a higher body heat or something.

It wasn't long, compared to the flight at least, before they got to Viktor's siblings house, and his too she supposed. Which was probably a good thing since she was still trying to cope with it all and stay warm. Sooner or later, probably soon if this family had anything to say by it, she'd get used to it. But for someone who had just woken up and had been attacked with attention it was really throwing her off balance.

"What do you want me to do now?" Shandra asked in a quiet voice to Viktor as she resisted the urge to grab her bag out of his siblings’ hands to help them out...and just to give her hands something to do.





Grabbing Shandra's hand, seeing that it was a little fidgety he just smiled at her. His brother Marco said something to him in Russian and Viktor just rolled his eyes with a simple reply, before wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Come, I show you city. We walk, to long sitting, yes? We be back for supper. Marco cooking for us. Big supper, hope your hungry." He waved to his brother as he lead Shandra away from all the commotion and down their drive way.

"Zit not far. Just over hill." He pointed to the hill they were heading towards. The sky was a little dark like it was getting ready to rain, but as Viktor saw this his eyes flashed white, and the clouds started to break and dispearse. "Dere, mooch better. No rain us today. What do you like to see first? Very small city... er... how do you say... town. Not city. Wrong word." He laughed. They were no where near a city. They were in a very small town.

"Oh I know where take you. I take you to friend's pub. Maybe get drink.”






Shandra nibbled on her lower lip with a timid smile as she she swallowed nervously. She was in a new country with strange new people and despite the fact that she was pretty sure she wasn't going to get hurt she couldn't get over that tingly feeling of needing to watch what she said and did. After all she didn't know many of the laws over here...and when in another country people were always subject to the same laws. What if she accidentally broke one? Or what if she offended his family by something?

She tried to take a deep breath, quietly of course, as she released her abused lower lip. "Yeah...towns are smaller...less industrialized and businesses. Cities get to be larger and have a lot of things..."

She paused for another moment as she wiggled her fingers inside of the hold he had on her hand. It was odd...but she was getting used to contact again. Still, habits of years on the street and being skittish even before that were hard to break -even the habit of feelings or sensations.

"A pub?" She asked curiously. "Are they like the British ones...or are they different here?"

Of course she'd probably go no matter what, not to say she'd actually eat or drink anything but she'd still be there at least. After all, she didn't want to make a fool of herself with not being able to hold anything down really...that was something she just didn't let people know very often and she couldn't exactly remember if she'd told Viktor about it or not.





Viktor just smiled at her, and didn't answer the question about the differences in pubs. "Jo dink to much, yes?" He then let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her neck, as they started walking down the dirt road towards the town ahead.

Viktor turned his head as he heard a vehicle coming up behind them. He pulled Shandra and himself to the side of the road. It was an old beat up blue truck that looked like it came from an old classic movie. In it was an old bearded man. "Viktor, dat you chere? I have not see jo in year." The man leaned over and opened the door. "Would you and your lady friend like a ride into town?"

After several more minutes the old friend of Viktors family had dropped teh two of them off at the pub, and Viktor found himself sitting at the bar, with Shandra next to him. He had a huge smile on his face and a large shot glass in his hand. "Noffing like Rooshun Vodka!" He lifted the glass into the air, and then downed it before leaning over towards Shandra and putting his arm around her neck again, and pulling her closer. "Go on now. You take drink now.”






To say her head was spinning would be a lie. Actually, she felt like everything was rushing her by and she was just standing in one very still spot. Viktor was navigating her where he seemed to want her to go, which was probably one of the things that was making the world go by so quickly. No matter how used to being around people she'd get, Shandra still had a feeling that the attention, both physical or not, was still going to surprise her. At least, maybe...for a few years. Although even then she doubted she'd get used to it but she wasn't psychic so nothing was certain.

She looked at him as he tried to get her to drink something that would probably burn her throat as though he were a crazy man. Actually, she was fairly sure he was. After all, well...she didn't have any justification but the more she got to know him the more she thought he was insane. Which, sometimes wasn't a bad thing. Actually it was refreshing. Still...her and alcohol? That had to be about the one thing she hadn't exactly tried just yet. With that extra special gag reflex that she could only hold off for minutes usually...it really did make trying foods in public embarrassing.

"Umm..." Shandra gulped as she looked at the shot the bartender had just filled up for her. Oh...he was conspiring against her too, she just knew it. "I...I'll try..."

Small sip in, tiny as a tester. She was right, it burned like hellfire going down. It might not have hurt her so much when she was thirteen, as strange as that was, because of how much soda she used to drink. But now, when most of her drinks were fresh teas and water...it almost literally brought tears from the heat to her eyes.

...Although she was really surprised that she couldn't even feel the acid coming back up to keep it out of her body.

With a somewhat pleased smile at her discovery she let something slip, "Hey, I'm not throwing it up!"





Viktor took her face into his hands and with a semi-drunken smile whispers into her ear as their cheeks brush. "Of course not. I order you special shot. Shot you drink no problem." He then looked into her eyes and smiled. "I know my friend." He shot her a wink and then looked over his shoulder as a few people started to pour into the pub. Familiar faces... The remaining Bagluv family. "Sheet. Have we been here that long?"

"Brother! What have you two been up to. We thought you was making the sweet loves to your little wifey here. But we should know you better than that huh? You must get her drunk first." Viktor's faced sobered up slightly as he turned to face Shandra.

"Shandra Nikolai... Nikolai Shandra..."

"Ah brother. I thought you'd be more excited to see me." Nikolai spoke English much more perfect than Viktor did. Being surrounded by Russians and the Russian/English dialect it was almost like the male spoke it perfectly. Nikolai took Shandra's hand and planted a kiss over top of it.

"Perhaps Ill give you a proper welcome to Russia. Come dance with me."

Viktor slammed his fist on the bar. "Nikolai stop!"

"What is it brother? Marco informed me your friend is up for grabs, you really should have no problem in trusting your lady friend to your brother of all people."

"Nikolai. I said stop. Just leave her alone." Viktor stood up and faced his brother. Fists at his side, sparking to life.

"Fine brother have it your way..."





Shandra had given him an embarrassed, sheepish smile as a bit of heat rose high into her cheeks. To try and avoid the awkwardness of it all she downed the shot with a slight tilt back to her head. The liquid warmed her up from the inside out...really it wasn't that bad after the first one. It still burned a bit, but somehow just the heat of it made it worth it. Plus it gave her a good excuse not to comment after he pulled back.

His question, however, did cause her to pause. Exactly what time was it anyways...better yet, what time did they even get there?

Of course the introduction caused her to pause and stare at the man he introduced as Nikolai. Even after the rather presumptuous, and actually offensive statement, she was trying not to judge him too much. She was failing...but she tried. The alcohol just wasn't making it very easy. Five minutes for regular food to slide down and start being digested...less for liquids. And somehow she had a feeling that shot was working a bit faster than it should...

But her slightly aglow green eyes narrowed on him as she looked at him in an almost sideways gesture. So he wanted to kiss her hand huh? After insulting her friend and herself indirectly? Not judging him was getting to be very hard.

Then he wanted her to dance with him. She didn't dance, in public at least. Not even her old friends could get her to dance...and the awkward situations of high school couldn't count because that was more like moving like a robot than anything.

"I don't dance," Shandra said quietly as she kept her gaze down after the initial bit..after all, this guy might not have been used to looking into eyes that did have their own glow.

She heard Viktor slam his fist and she almost flinched at the tone. Somehow she just had the feeling he wasn't exactly happy with his brother. And although she didn't know the whole situation, for now she was siding with the one guy that she did actually know in this land -plus, him being a friend did help.

After their little exchange of less than friendly words, Shandra pulled her hand out of Nikolai's. She shook her head slightly as she let out a breath. Her head did feel a little light but other than that she didn't need Viktor to defend her...honestly if this guy did anything really wrong she could just slip out...or knock him to next Tuesday. But it was a nice jester on his part still.

"Viktor, it's alright...calm down, okay?" She said in a light tone as she put her hand on his shoulder, her eyes raised to stair directly at Nikolai for the first time but she didn't say anything to him directly.








"No, not alright. Nikolai always try to steal girl away from me when he know I..." Viktor didn't finish his comment but just turned around and smiled at her, then took her hand and started towards the door. "Come lets get fresh air. I make it pretty for you." He took her outside and looked up at the cloudy sky, and made the clouds flee. "Mooch better no?"
















Shandra smiled up at the clear sky. She rarely thought she'd ever miss the vibrant sun in her eyes but if it came down to it...she could always put on sunglasses. Call her picky, but she liked moderate climates the best.

She turned back around to face Viktor, "Thanks. I'm sorry...but cold and me just...don't get along well."

A small laugh followed her statement at how awkward that sounded even to her. She opened her hands just to stand there, strangely but it was better than being amongst the tension of the brothers.

After a moment she spoke up, quietly as to not let anyone else overhear, "What...I mean...why don't you like your brother?"











Viktor just nodded a couple times to the question. "Nikolai very jealous." He started taking a seat on a bench. "We big family. All mutant... but Nikolai. He normal. I Viktor only little brother. He push me around. Err how do you say... Nikolai bully me."

"Before I have power, anyway. One day he punch me in face." Viktor placed a hand on his face like he had just been hit. "I usual punch back. Me brothers always been rough. Boys be boys, no? Well I no punch Nikolai that day. I had no power at time, until that day. He punch me and I..." Viktor looked over at a trash can next to him. Sparks raced around his fingers as he pointed his hand at the trash can. A bolt of hot lightening leaped from his hand into the trash can with a crash knocking it over.

"Nikolai then alone in family full of brother. He very jealous. He hate not being like us..."








Shandra nodded. It made sense, a bit, but in that awkward way. So the brother was jealous and felt left out, she understood that left out bit a lot. Abandonment made people do bad things, but this guy was just taking it out on everyone. Couldn't say she blamed him...not like he'd been driven too far yet.

"Well...that's a bit...backwards. And careful, alright? Lightning can cause fires...and I'm not exactly a water person. But...your brother, it's not his fault. I mean it is. But...the tree growing in the shadow of an oak ends up having to twist and turn to find light, and they end up looking gnarled."


















"I very careful not to use powers on him." Viktor quickly nodded. "I feel bad after I do when it do happen. I stand and take beating..." Viktor had a look of confusion on his face as he faced the pub as someone entered, and he could hear his brother in his drunken stupor. "He drink lots too."

"Enough of brother, how you like Roosha so far? I sorry it not much. But it home."













"It's fine...the quiet is nice. The Academy gets to be too much, you know? So a change of scene...where you're not being kidnapped...or drawn into battle...or forced to study..." she listed off it with a loopy smile and a shrug, "well it's nice. I'm just surprised you haven't actually kinda wondered off...or been driven away by all the crazy things that happen."

That was honest. Everyone who she actually got to know either faded into the background, hated her, or ended up leaving. Of course that was assuming he wouldn't do that later, but sometimes she wanted to be optimistic.

"So did you want to go back inside...? You seemed to like sitting in there...before your brother kinda put you off..."











"Oh no no no." Viktor shook his head. "No I fine. I dont feel like go back i. He killed my buzz anyway." He stood up and looked around, and saw a couple of his brothers walking out towards them. "Oh looks like my brothers want to make sure we okay."

Marco approached the two, snapping his fingers creating a small flame that he used to light a cigarette, before waving his hand to cause it to vanish. "You two alright?" Marco spoke slow. He had a couple drinks in his system and his English was horrible. "Nikolai no bother to you anymore during your stay. He goes to be away on work."

Viktor just nodded. He looked over at Cheslav who just nodded to him. Cheslav was the quiet one of the bunch. He didn't speak any English at all.

Marco spoke up again. "Lets get you two home. Im sure your friend's tired. Maybe some food a bath and some sleep."

Viktor nodded and looked to Shandra. "Sounds good if you ready to go."





Shandra nodded, despite the fact that she wasn't tired. After all, she'd slept on the plane...a bit, but it was still enough. However, a nice bath did sound good. Besides it wasn't like there was anything to do here really.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Shandra showed her hand in the game of poker that they'd started up with a smile. Lying she was good at, hiding she was good at, and so this game was rather fun. Of course she wasn't the best there every was, but she wasn't bad.

However...some of his brothers were more than keeping up with her. Apparently they weren't too bad at hiding and lying themselves. Of course that sometimes came with being a mutant...

...that or they were lucky. Either or.

"And...that makes three hands in a row," Shandra said happily.







Viktor watched his brothers loose their rubles. He played a little bit, but he had learned not to play against his brothers, and he had learned at home to not play against Shandra as well. When money was involved Viktor didn't play. He was leaning against the doorway that led outside. The door was open and the snow was falling, and Viktor held a large bottle of vodka that he took periodic sips from it, and filled his brothers shot now and then as well.

"Ah she win 'gain." He laughed almost falling over. That was his que to take a seat. Sitting down he put his bottle down and one of his brothers grabbed it. "You treating me tomorrow dinner right?" He smiled wrapping an arm around Shandra and slumping down almost falling and putting his face in her lap.









Shandra stiffed when she felt the weight in her lap but didn't do much else. After the two days they'd been there, she'd gotten used to it...sorta. But if people couldn't break her in a year of her anti-touchingness, she doubted she'd get over it anytime soon. Besides that, the bottle he'd opened was half way gone and if she was right that stuff had quite the content in it.

"Hey," Shandra started out as she propped his head up higher with her hands. "Well...that's about...what? Fifty hands?"

She pulled one of her hands out from under his head and just pushed her money back into the middle of the table. She didn't need it...if she really ever needed anything she'd just take it, and there wasn't anything frivolous she wanted at the moment either.

Slowly she helped Viktor stand up, "and since half that bottle is gone...I'm guessing you're either drunk or sleepy...so bed time for you...?"





His brothers started to laugh. "Aww is mommy sending the baby to bed." Marco started looking over at some of the others laughing.

Brody just smirked, obviously speaking to one of the brothers through his telepathy. They had all grown rather comfortable with Shandra and weren't shy at using their powers at this point. At first they were reluctant to display them in front of the new person, whether she was a mutant or not.

"Aww no Shandra. I no sleep yet. I stay here, and watch you teach my family a lesson." Gave her cheek a big wet sloppy kiss. Playful.

Cheslav was smirking as dealt the cards around the table, dealing Viktor in. He knew what was going on and what was being said whether he spoke English or not. Brody made sure of that. He was translating everything into Russian for the other brother.

"Oh now I play? You know I bad at this game."

Cheslav replied in russian. "Oh come now brother. You can play one hand."

Brody looked to Shandra and his voice entered mind translating what was said.




Shandra frowned, not mad of course but just for the sake of frowning. She wiped her cheek off and gave the boy a playful glare. All in the name of good fun...yeah...games were supposed to be fun as she kept reminding herself. Her eyes flickering just for a moment to the brother that was looking towards her before moving back to her current language target.

"I've thrown my money into the pot...kinda usually ends the game. Unless you're playing Texas hold'um...then when you set your cards down or leave the table at all you loose...but that's besides the point. "And what lesson am I supposed to teach them now?" Shandra asked, her tone masking the playful edge.












"'Ow about a game of gin rummy. Maybe I teach you and dem something bout it." Viktor started before being interrupted by one of his brothers.

"Gin... sounds good. We got any. I could go for a shot or two..."

"Or three." Another interupted.

Viktor rolled his eyes, pushing his cards back to Ches telling him in Russian to redeal for Rummy. The blond nodded and shuffled and re dealt. the cards. The look on Viktor's face showed how good of a hand he got. One thing he was never good at was lying.

"Okay point of game is to have low total. Aces are one. Face are 10. You can either take a card from deck and throw away the highest card in hand, or trade highest in hand for card I put in pot. If you have low number, you think no one else have lower you call Jin and tell total. If one of us is lower you out. Got it?"

He moved his cards around putting them order. He had five in his hand. A 2 2's, a 3, a queen and a King. "Ill go first." He flipped the card over in the middle of the table. It was a six. Viktor switched the six with his King before looking over at Shandra.





Shandra watched as the cards were dealt but shook her head. This was a game she'd never played before so she more or less wanted to sit back and watch. But...her sitting back just sometimes led to her slipping out...and slipping out made cheating a great deal easier.

So as she went to grab a glass of water she let the boys get on with their game. A few sips later and she was out of sight. Now it was time to have a bit of fun. Grabbing a pad of paper and a pencil, Shandra walked around and wrote down everyone's total.

She set the tablet into Viktor's lap where no one but he could see it and just sat back. If he freaked out about a tablet appearing out of no where then that would be amusing too. If he didn't want to cheat...then he spoiled her fun. She had to wonder just how long they could go at it until that mind brother of his called them on it...

Now it was just time for the red head to sit back and wait to find out.




Viktor looked down into his lap, and then turned to Shandra. One of his brothers next to him leaned over to see what Viktor was looking at, but Viktor had gotten Shandra's hand over his boy bits before he could really see what was going on. His brother would just assume he was getting felt up. Viktor did blush having not meant to really push her hand that far, but what's done was done.

Around the table, they sat there moving cards around. Of course knowing totals like he did wasn't a huge help but it was some help. more than none at all. He knew that he had a better hand than everyone else. But the fact was how many of their cards were high? How many did they need to switch out.

Viktor had lost his two face cards. One was a 6 and the other an 8. I twas still not a good hand to play on. You wanted to try and have all 5's or lowers. 6 at the most.







She wrote down something simple: "Sorry. Next time I stay where you can't feel me."

She felt bad for the accidentally brush, but honestly it was his fault. She wasn't going to be too embarrassed about an accident, although she tried telling that to her face and it wouldn't listen. Oh well, people could assume she had too much to drink. That actually gave her a very good act for the next hand so she followed through with that.

Considering she didn't know how she acted if she had too much to drink she just let out a little giggle as she laid herself down, hands behind her head as though she found the ceiling really interesting. Hopefully they overlooked her phasing in and out and excused it to her not having full control over her abilities...which she didn't, but she was better then just phasing in and out every few seconds. However, she kept the act up until the next hand...

...where she went around and did a card count again, before setting the tablet down and resuming her lying down position before she appeared to everyone else.




With this new hand Viktor was not in a good position. But he could easily turn the tables if he had to, which he would. He switched a card and waited for his next turn. He liked being devious. He liked the deviant behavior with Shandra. He felt so bad, but he didn't care. Someone always ended up cheating during these nights of cards, and tonight, for once, it was him.

Of course Brody had smirk on his face, and he kept meeting Viktor's eye. Brody knew something was up. But he was opting to not say anything. Any telepath could tell what was going on.

Viktor's turn came again. He took a shot and then switched another card. He turned to face Shandra as she reappeared. "The vodka effecting your powers there beautiful?" He put a hand on her leg and slid it down the entirety of her thigh and interlaced their fingers. He sat there for a second before blushing and looking at her and letting go.

He looked straight to his telepathic brother who looked like he was about to loose it. His eyes were wide.

Oh God Brody get outta my head now.
Ah... but its so fun.
Brody...
Hey Im not saying anything just enjoying the ride.
Come on...
Get your girlfriend to stop cheating.
She's not my...
Kiss her already bro. You know you want to.
No I dont!
Oh is she not good enough for you then?
No she's perfect. I mean... I uh...
Mmhmm haha...

Viktor continued glaring at Brody who had been glaring at him during their whole silent exchange.





Shandra's eyes widened, almost throwing off her illusion of being sedated when she felt his hand. This act...or whatever it was, was getting a little too strange. She honestly didn't know what do to. How was she supposed to act for that? There just weren't any answers that she knew of. Usually she drew off of past experiences, but all her past experiences just told her to get the heck out of dodge before someone started daring her.

"Hmm...maybe," Shandra replied, her voice deeper and quiet like she knew it was in the morning...even though she'd only been drinking water, she could keep up that lie well enough when he didn't shock her half to death.

She sat up with a lazy smile when he let go of her hand, noticing the glaring between two bothers. She knew that the mind brother knew...it was obvious, probably like he also knew she hadn't had a drink that day. Of course she didn't know how long that was going to go on.

"Anyone...hungry?" She asked, a smile teasing her lips as she tried to think of something funny to keep her eyes with the same expression. Whoever said you couldn't fake a smile obviously hadn't met someone who was used to putting one on.




Viktor just nodded. "Yes yes food good. Food really good." He turned his glare from Brody and then looked over at Shandra. "I sure they stocked up on food you can eat. Right?" He turned to Brody who was supposed to have gone out and got some organic food for their friend.

s**t, I knew I forgot something.

Viktor rolled his eyes. "At least it not too late. We go get you food." He hooked his arm around Shandra and took her outside into the snowy twilight. The snow started to stop and the weather warmed slightly. "You want coat?" He asked her carefully trying to ignore the urge to just wrap his arms around her to keep her warm.










Shandra paused once more, but this time for a whole new reason. She had to stop and think where she'd left that thing called a coat. Putting one finger to her lips she tapped them, like that would help her think.

"Yeah..." She replied, "I...just don't remember where I put it...uh, it doesn't matter. I'm...not actually that hungry. I did grab a bite while you and your brothers were doing...whatever you were doing in town earlier."

Of course he probably didn't see her, or thought she'd been there the whole time. She did have this tendency of wondering off when there wasn't attacking people after them to do whatever came to mind. Probably why she couldn't exactly remember where she put her coat.

"But it's fine...seriously, I've gone much longer without eating even if I was hungry. Not being hungry and missing a meal isn't going to kill me you know..."




Viktor rose straight up in his bed. He heard a loud thunderous boom, and then his room was illuminated by a pillar of fire that shot outside his window. His eyes were wide as he ran over and peered through the glass. He stumbled backwards as another pillar of fire shot right by. Getting back to his feet he angled his body to see that it was his older brother throwing the fire. Marco never used his powers anymore than a match flame for a cigarette. So to see suck gargantuan pillars of fire being sent out, he knew something was up.

He raised his window and called out to his brother. “Marco…” A wave of mist shot through the window, and something physical grabbed at Viktor knocking him to the ground just as a barrage of bullets filled his room. “Konstantin… whats…”

“Shh…” His brother laid over him, filling the room full of his smokey mist. “Go find your friend… hide. No questions hurry…”

Viktor nodded and crept through the mist. Did his brother not know that he could whip up his own fog? He didn’t bother to ask. He figured his brother’s was probably stronger. He crept through the dense mist towards Shandra’s room. “Shandra… where are you?” Konstanine’s mist was everywhere. It was filling the whole house. Something serious was going on.





Shandra slowly sat up in the bed she'd been borrowing for a bit as she heard someone come in. She blinked as she pulled out something that told her the time, she didn't really care what it was, and found she'd actually been sleeping...normally that wasn't such an easy thing for her. It was about three in the morning and it had been Viktor's voice that woke her up, not that own broken internal clock of hers.

Yawning she put herself back into his line of sight, she did slip into her powers when she was dreaming out using them, and finally noticed the smog thick mist around them both. If she remembered right...one of the brothers did mist...the name was escaping her, but the point was that something must have been up for that to happen.

"Umm...what's the matter...?"

She wasn't exactly fully awake since she had, indeed, been getting more sleep then she normally did but she couldn't say she was sleepy either. It more like like that space in between and her face was probably a reflection of that. After all, she had no idea something was up...




Before Viktor could even reply, there was a bright flash, and a loud explosion that shook the house. Viktor ran forward and grabbed her and started dragging her towards a bag door of the house. “We get out now.” He started before the explosion happened again, obviously closer. He looked out the window to see a large smoking crater off slightly in the distance.

His hand was still wrapped tightly around Shandra’s wrist. They had to get out of here fast before something really bad happened. A loud roar of thunder rolled through with a strobe light of lightening. Viktor was a little shaken up and scared. He was causing a storm outside. The ground shook hard, knocking the two to the ground. Viktor started to pull himself back to his feet, as he felt an intense heat next to him as he heard the crackling of flam and the splintering of wood.

When Viktor turned onto his back he was speechless staring up the giant metallic creature before them. Its eyes were glowing red. Viktor had heard of these before. “This not good…”







Shandra's eyes shot up, completely and utterly awake as she was dragged out of the room that had gotten warm and out into the open air. She was just glad that she slept paranoid now a days...or had since she left her house. Although her feet were freezing her so she had to take a step up onto her own energy that rejected about a foot of space for her so she could reach down and rub some warmth back into them.

However, just when she started, the loud crunch of something very heavy, large, and slow made her look up. Metal...bucket head. Something from all the reading she'd done in her spare time was staring them down like they were the next assignment. Actually, they might be the reason...

"Oh, crap..." She said, white mist billowing from her mouth in the cold of the night. She sent out about the largest push force she could, which made her stumble on her own energy path before she could get back up just as the big thing hit the ground, hard, and shook the area around once more.

"Uhh...these things get back up when they fall, don't they?"

She tried to think of something but what was coming out was rather scattered. She hated the cold, it didn't help her think or concentrate. And she knew giving it the slip when she was cold wasn't going to work...maybe that's why she hated the cold so much. Oh well, knowing wasn't going to help her right now.

"...Where's the brit when you need him?" Shandra mumbled to herself, not caring if it confused Viktor much or not right now, before she turned to face him, "How's your lightning again?"





Viktor got to his feet when he heard the thing fall to the ground. He didn’t even hear what Shandra was saying. He just knew they had to get out of here, and using powers would only attract these things. But not using would have you die by their hands. He pulled Shandra through the whole that was in the wall that opened his home to the elements. “I still got it.” He spoke to her not even turning around to face her. He was staring forward at the down sentinel. The wind rushing against him. He lifted his hand towards the metallic beast as he eyes glowed white.

The clouds started to swirl around over head, as the wind and rain soaked through Viktor’s clothes, and tossed his hair. A line of light fell through the funneling clouds striking the metal being’s head. It flashed and danced as it made contact, before just as quick as it appeared it was gone.

Viktor turned to Shandra. “No… when they go down… we keep them there.” He winked quickly, before tugging her forward again. He didn’t know where the rest of his brothers were, but knew they were around. He could see flashes in the distance, and saw the small silhouettes of the distant sentient beings. “They… everywhere.” He started rather shocked that there were so many.

A dog raced by the couple. Viktor recognized it, it was Pavel. It was not a dog at all but a wolf. His brother could shape shift into a canine form and anything in between. The wolf stopped ahead of them, and turned and motioned with its head to follow. “Come Pavel lead us to safety.”





Shandra nodded as she followed along. Trying to get them both off of the damp was taking up all her concentration so following the furry brother of his was about all she could think about. Cold, running off of the ground, and following filled her head. It was cliche, but she felt she could understand the people who were running away from the big bad boogy man...

Running, running, but they didn't seem to get anywhere. The scenery was still the same and the background never seemed to change. The sentinels felt like they were closing in around them but then again, she couldn't see any of them through the trees.

Finally they stopped, but only for a moment. Shandra took in her breaths as slow as she could, after all she knew better then to try and get herself to hyperventilate. But at least after all that running to nowhere she was warming up...but she knew that body heat wouldn't last long.

"What are we....supposed to do now?" Shandra asked either brother between breaths, ignoring the fact right now probably wasn't the time to be asking questions since she didn't know what else to do.





The wolf had stopped having reached his destination. He let loose a loud howl. Viktor looked confused for a moment but then saw the ground open up. A hidden doorway. Pavel darted down the stairs switching back to his human form. Viktor stared at the man how was motioning for the two people to come down the stairs. It was some kind of hidden safe haven.

Viktor slowly made his way down, and realized he was in some kind of underground tunnel. They were… waiting for this. “Pavel!” Viktor yelled down the tunnel, before he was surrounded by a mist and a hand covered his mouth.

“Shhh brother. Do you want to get us all heard?”

Viktor turned to face Konstantine. “Where are we?”

“Underground… mutant… safe tunnels.”

Viktor turned to Shandra a look of fear finally showing on his face. A look of confusion. A look of not knowing anything.

“Just come with us you two. And keep quiet.”

Pavel started leading them down a tunnel, and then turned, and turned. Around and around. Viktor was truly lost. He was almost unable to take it anymore, and started to ask something as they entered a room. There were several people here. Scared… obviously hiding. Refugees…





Shandra looked up slightly to Viktor, he seemed just about as lost as she was. Although, she could see fear on his face. She wasn't sure if she was afraid...maybe, on some instinctual level, but so far she'd been in worse situations. Given, most of the time she didn't have to be very quiet about it and there weren't too many people she hadn't even seen before around, but this situation wasn't as bleak -yet.

And the people around looked worse then Viktor did, his expression at least. She didn't stop to look around because she knew it would make it that much worse. She'd be able to go to what home she had, sooner or later, these people around her probably couldn't...

After a moment of just loitering around, Shandra sat down in a corner. At least it wasn't wet in here just yet. Dirt she could handle, wetness not so much. Tugging a little on Viktor's pants leg she just motioned for him to sit down. If a disaster was breaking out it wasn't going to do either of them any good to freak out -that much she knew- and sometimes it was easier to calm down when you weren't having to stand up and pay attention to things.

Besides, the idea of extra body heat wasn't that bad either...





Viktor sat down, a solemn expression on his face. You could tell by the looks on their faces that several of them had lost more than just their houses. Viktor felt thankful for that, as far as he could tell he had lost his home. And that wasn’t that bad. He looked over to Shandra and wrapped and arm around her and pulled her close to him. He knew that she was cold, and he had known for a while now that cold was something that she didn’t particularly take a liking to.

He started to realize just how cold he was. He had no shirt on, was barefoot, and wearing nothing but pajama bottoms. Before he could even start to shiver an old woman, dressed almost gypsie like walked over to the two. She seemed saddened by something, but seeing the two, she also looked like she took comfort in the two for some reason. Displacing something, giving attention to them. She took a brown cloak and wrapped it around him. She shot him a smile. “You catch cold.” She scolded patting his head and walking away.

Taking the cloak, Viktor wrapped it around Shandra bringing her closer to him. “Im sorry… all this happens.”





"Thanks..." Shandra mumbled in embarrassment.

She knew she got cold fairly easy, that this climate wasn't the best for her. But she couldn't help but feel bad about that. She might have actually been able to help more if her own comfort wasn't that big of an issue on her mind...and it was awkward having someone keep giving things up just to make sure she had that comfort zone.

"Hey, it's not your fault, okay?" She replied to his last comment as she tried to get herself to relax so she could just enjoy the warmth, but the rush of blood never did listen to her conscience thought very often. "Things...things like this happen...The summer was peaceful at the Academy...trust me...when, when we go back you're probably going to find just as much trouble there too..."

Okay, she wasn't that good at comforting someone, at least not in this kind of situation. She could compare it to something else, but that might not help him as much.

And as soon as she felt the large crunch and thunder of something over head she quieted down. Talking in this kind of situation might not be the best thing...but if talking was keeping them calm then she wasn't sure what would be worse. With his powers, if he got too upset...things could go wrong. With her powers as well...and she had no idea why she continued to think in terms of powers. There were people that obviously needed help down here but she wasn't the best person that could help them.

When the heat from her cheeks, wasn't the only slightly warmed up area, even though it wasn't by much it was enough to where she knew she could focus -she'd have to remember to get him something for getting her warm later, Shandra turned her head up to face him once more. "I...I could get us out of here...if you want to go..."

Her offer was offered with a feeble smile and a shadowed look out of her slightly glowing eyes. Yes, she could get them out...but that meant letting the others fend for themselves. And that almost meant leaving his family and letting them fend for themselves as well. She kind of already knew that answer before she even asked, but the option was always nice to vocalize.





“No… we must stay. For bit longer at least.” He said as he looked around at everyone around them. They had come from miles around. He was beginning to wonder how long these tunnels went and just how long they had been around. Her comments about the school being busy didn’t make things seem that much better there than here. But here… was under the direct attack at the moment, so there seemed like a bette rplace to be.

You could hear the roaring thunder of the sentinels over head. The ground shook and ever once in a while small particles of dirt would fall around them. It wasn’t the safest of places to be at all. But it could be worse being out there. Viktor knew that all his brothers were doing something to help, but Viktor was sitting here doing nothing. As the fear was draining from his body, he was wanting to be out their fighting along side them.

“Shandra… I should be doing something. Brothers all helping… I can’t sit here. It not right.” He looked over at Pavel and Konstantine who were bringing in a couple other refuges to the attack. They weren’t fighting, but they were helping. Viktor could do something, he couldn’t just stand around like this. He gripped her hand tighter, when and was about to ask what she would think of him going to fight but two more of his brothers started to approach.

“Brody… Mikhail.”

Shandra and Viktor’s minds opened up to Brody.

“Shandra… Viktor. We need to get you back to the states, to warn the X-Men of what is happening. Mikhail is unable to reach any technical connections. He is unable to connect to the sentinels.

Mikhail spoke up speaking his broken English accent that was shared with most of this family. “You come with us. I make sure computers see us. Brody make sure human mind let us through. Much time we no have. Marco, Cheslav, and Tasha lead robots away, give us small time to get away.” Mikhail tossed a bag at Shandra and Viktor. “I find these in your room. Uniforms I think… Change, we ready when you are. Meet down left tunnel.

Viktor nodded taking the bag grabbing the uniforms from them. He had trained many times in the Danger Room in this suit. It was more durable than civies, but allowed equal movement. Viktor helped Shandra up and the two walked to Separate halls to change.

***

The four were standing under another trap door. It was eerily quiet. A voice entered their minds. “Everyone is ready?”




Shandra nodded, thinking back to the person who had entered her head as best she could, as they stood underneath the floor. Slowly it rose up and quicker than that she slipped through. Fresh air was nice, and having water proof shoes was even better. Of course her uniform was a much closer fit then anything she normally wore, but at least it wasn't skin tight for the most part. Well...she could at least delude herself since the top had two layers that were built in together and she had extra pieces to go over most of the rest.

Her red hair stood out against the dreary surroundings and she knew that sooner or later it was going to catch something's attention. But at the moment she didn't have anything to cover it with. Aside from that, if it did get to be a problem she'd just slip off and follow quietly.

Somehow, quietly usually meant at least facing down one or two things.

"So out of the Danger Room and into the Field..." Shandra whispered standing right next to Viktor so the voice didn't go more than a foot at most, almost playfully to Viktor."Did you want to take off...or travel slow?"

She stood as she looked to the sky. She could faintly see the salutes in the distance of machines. There were so many of them...she could defend herself, sure, but what could she do to an army of hive minded being that couldn't feel pain? What could she do to something so unfeeling that it would hurt others just to get an inch closer to kidnapping it's target?




"We have choice?" He asked a little perplexed. "We move fast. No time for wait." He smirked at her as he sprinted forward knowing she would not be that far behind. They were not all that far from the city where they would be able to ditch the uniforms, grab new clothes suited for the night and grab a bus to the airport. His two brothers would not be to far behind either.

They ran past burning buildings. There were several darkened masses around them. Viktor didn't want to look in case it was a pile of scorched flesh. He knew that he had to get to safty. His home town... his family depended on him. He was going from scared and frightened, to brave... to angry. He felt a wave of emotion around him. He didn't realize it but his body was lifting slowly off the ground.

He felt his feet slam back to the ground with a jar. He was confused for a second trying to figure out had happened, but he knew they didn't really have time wait. They had somewhere to go. They passed by a fallen sentinel that had tried to take down some mutant that it was just not really able to take care of.

"Wait... wont city be on lock down." Viktor stopped and just turned to face his brothers. He leaned over and started to take deep breathes as they too did.

"No, its military action. They sent their army to us. The city will no nothing of what is going on. Its a centralized attack. We don't know why they are doing it, we just know they mean to wipe our town out... Our town was a safe place for mutants. We painted a target on our heads."

Viktor looked shocked. He had no clue that his home was a community for mutants. He never really thought of it that way. Sure he knew their were several, and everyone was careful about using their abilities... but suddenly many things were making sense in his head. But nothing he really wanted to think about at the moment.

"The problem is getting into the city. They may have some kind of guard force to keep folks from fleeing in or out. I have been practicing on manipulating minds... I am not great but I hope its enough. It will be like no one even saw us coming in."





Shandra kept up with them, thanking the fact that it was just something to do. Being trapped and idle never really sat well with her, at least not unless planning was happening. And as she didn't see, or hear, any planning happening it had left her to just wait. When they came to a stop she waited for just a moment before the man, Viktor's brother, started in on his mental explanations. How was it that his English was better in his head?

...Shandra shook her head to try and get it back on track. Now wasn't the time to get all wrapped up in language, or lack there of, barriers.

"That...that one I can help with. If, I mean, if you can get them to overlook doors opening and stuff..." Without explaining, Shandra took a deep breath and reached out for the two brothers she didn't know as well, while simply moving in closer to the Viktor. "I haven't gotten good with keeping distance, but...stay close and you should be invisible at least...keep quiet and you should be able to be silent to them."

She tilted her head back to look at Viktor's face to make sure he understood that at least. She couldn't grab onto him since she was holding onto two other people so hopefully he understood that he did need to listen for this part.









It was all working perfect so far. No flaws in the plan. With Brody filling delusions into the heads of those around, Shandra keeping everyone unseen, and Mikhail playing with the machines for what ever reason, it was not hard to grab new clothes, bus passes and plane tickets.

Now they were sitting on the back of a bus, that would take them to Moscow. Viktor was feeling slightly useless in this situation. But he knew it wasn't so. They were fleeing at this point not fighting. He needed to keep his spirits high. There may come a time they need him. If they ran into the need for an offensive force he was their tank.

He stared out the window as they traveled. Shandra was sitting next to him. He stared at her reflection. This was not what he had in mind for bringing a friend to his home country. He was rather disappointed with how things had really turned out. Mikhail and Brody were behind them. The two were obviously talking telepathically with one another as they had not said one word in so long. Viktor had learned to read the faces of those communicating through the mind.

He turned around and faced Shandra. His eyes spoke volumes. "It always like this? Not really fear... no anger... no sadness... just... is this... how the X-Men always feel?" He was truly confused. He thought he would be feeling one emotion or another. But he was just indifferent. Knowing their was a job to do, to help so many. He didn't really care about himself as much as he did about those back home.



It happened quickly and Shandra was relieved to have a nice warm sweater over her and a good pair of pants as well. However, the mood that Viktor was in didn't seem as though he was all that pleased. And when he spoke up she figured out just how unbalanced he was if he felt numb. She tried to remember if she'd felt like that at any point...but it had been so long since all of this mess had started for her. She remembered feeling scared, and anxious, but she had a feeling that being numb...maybe, she couldn't remember that feeling since it was, in a sense, supposed to be a blank area.

"I...don't know," she started off uncertainly. "It's...different for each person. You might just be in shock. I mean, this is your first time with something like this right? And it was your home...your family...things change when you get involved in a situation. Maybe...when the shock fades, if it is shock, you'll start to look back...and want it to be a nightmare."

She gave him a slightly bitter smile at that. There were a lot of things she had wanted to be dreams in the past, but of course none of them had turned out that way.

"The world...it isn't perfect. It has hate, disgusting things...but...after this is over, I mean...after this part is over cause it's never going to end...just think of the good things. And start thinking of them now, it helps a bit I think," Shandra gave him the best advice she good, knowing that it would probably help him if he could keep his eye on something he wanted to keep the same.

She looked out the window as they road on the bus. The people around them looked half asleep, not that there were many people, but she felt wide awake. It did seem like a dream sometimes, a horrible, twisted version of a life...but the thing was they never woke up from it. The bad guys didn't fade with a large noise...th

reserved

reserved

reserved

It had been an hour...a full hour. And she hadn't even gotten through a sentence. No, instead, she had just been staring ahead. Before she had finished hours of work without a blink. Without a word. Quiet.

She hadn't talked to her team. She hadn't left her apartment area for three days unless someone counted the Office. Her TV hadn't been turned on, nothing had. Not unless it was to do work. If someone had thought her silence over her telling Antonio to get out had been bad...it had nothing compared to this utter avoidance. She had no idea why it was so bad now, she just couldn't bring herself to want to feel...to want to do.

Antonio had betrayed her, she'd had to deal with kids, Brian and Derrik had betrayed everyone, and James wasn't...he was going to be caught up in a lot of drama of his own. And Melody had her own drama too...

Was it just a combination of it all that had built up around her?

It had to be...

But whatever it was, whatever this cold was that was gripping her heart...it made everything blur by. And she just couldn't find a way to stop it. Not even the unloading and the tidal wave that had hit San Francisco had done the job, that had just left her to walk back from the ocean numbed.

Damn everything - Antonio, X-mass, Derrik, Brian, herself...and Damn Antonio once more. She'd been accepting of the split - but damn him for proving her right on everything...

Nothing, and no one stuck around. They all left, and they all betrayed. The world had very few pinpoints of lights and she ended up making them all suffer.

Damn it all.

She didn't even blink when she felt herself slice her hand open. On what, she had no idea, nor had she any clue. She just wrapped it up in a few tissues she had on her desk and continued reading over the work that had been sent her. At least someone would be happy in the end - she was doing all the work about as effectively and efficiently as the computer. Because, of course, she was beginning to think that would just be the better way to live life. She was sure that she could get some Scientists to do it for her...Adrian be damned too.

Aren sighed as he knocked on the door to Moahk's office once more. She needed him. Needed someone.

Up until this point, she'd not been given the opportunity to sort out how Antonio had betrayed her. It wasn't something she'd take well, he knew. After so many years around each other, it was something that just inherently came to him. "Moahk." He asked into the door. "I'm not leaving until you answer."

"And you know as well as I do, that you can't beat me in the art of being stubborn." Come on Shandi, open the door.

Really he didn't know what he'd do when she opened the portal to her suite. But Naapi... she'd do it. Or he'd break the damn door down.

Shandra didn't even raise her head to the sound of Peta's voice, didn't even blink. It was as though she denied that there was anything outside of what she was staring at. The world outside...the past...didn't exist.

Until she found a file for another dead x-men. Damn it, she'd worked with that one for a while too. Shandra slipped it into the unimportant file. What was another death? And the next one...one of kids had a parent in these parts and hadn't returned to school that year. It was passed the time to worry. Shandra looked at it, her expression dull.

Well, that kid was screwed. Might be better for them to find that out now...

His words about being stubborn...of it being an art...lightly filled her ears. Distantly. Like she didn't want to hear it. It took her a moment to actually understand that there had been a voice.

"Unless you are dying, the base is under attack, or there is someone from the main branch that wants to talk with us --- Then go away. I'm busy," it came out in a monotonous voice.

No coldness of a dead voice, just said as though there was no different way to say it. No softer tones she had to get up to tell him. She just didn't want to see him. Period.

And back to the paperwork.

"Moahk." He tried the door handle; and no surprise, it was locked. If she were truly busy with paperwork, the door would likely be wide open, just begging for someone to distract her.

In a nanosecond, Aren shrank to the size of an ant, skittered under the door and then shifted back to his normal size once he was behind her. "Shandra.." Chocolate eyes stared into her green ones when he managed to maneuver himself between her and the desk. "This avoidance isn't healthy."

He knew that often she dealt with things the way he would have liked to. But the finality of the situation required more finesse than simply ignoring it could give. For some reason that he couldn't fathom, Shandra had loved (or at least, as close as he thought she could get) Antonio. Had trusted him, despite everything telling her she shouldn't. And the betrayal obviously had cut her deep.

The size shifter had expected this reaction to come eventually,when she got time to think about the grievances done to her. But, expecting it still didn't stop it from scaring the hell out of him. "Shutting out the world isn't going to help you feel better Moahk." His tone was quiet, soothing as he wrapped her into a warm Peta hug. What she needed now was to understand that just because Antonio had ruined the trust she had in him, didn't mean everyone else was going to do the same thing.

Had he not come to her aid, chose her need for his help over going home? And even when the council told him that he wouldn't be able to return if he put them off, here he was... at Shandra's side.

"Take a break. Let's get off base for the day, and I'll manage your paperwork when we get back. It's not like you enjoy doing it anyways."

She had expected him not to listen, knew it would happen. Knowing that he would didn't make her get up. In fact, she actually felt as though she had glued herself further to her seat. She did not want to get up, she did not want to see him. She just wanted to sit in her chair and not move...well, not have to interact with anyone right now.

She felt as though she might very well just squish them all into the wall.

The stubborn redhead didn't even acknowledge the fact that she had arms wrapped around her. Didn't even acknowledge the fact that he was trying to get her to give him something more than whatever it was she was doing. She didn't want to...she couldn't...

She didn't have the time to do much else. She'd been with the X-men for six years, considering what they do...she had a good track record - considering the fact that one of the larger wounds (outside of personal issues) she'd ever sustained had been a singular bullet wound. And a few gashes - but the bullet wound had hurt the most out of those kinds of wounds.

By the time he'd chosen to let her go, Shandra still hadn't loosened up. She couldn't afford to. There was simply just no place for it...no time for it. She didn't want to. Breakdowns...emotional unloading...not her thing. And anytime she did, of any sort, it usually bit her right in the a**.

Like it was doing now. Damn Antonio.

"I don't want to take a break," Shandra said as she turned her chair back around, the side of her face to Peta. "I don't have to take a break. I'm not tired, I'm not hungry, I don't have to go to the bathroom, and I've already had three hours of exercise today. I do not need to get up. And there is nothing out there that I want."

This was, more or less, how her mind was operating.

Why couldn't he just leave already?

Aren sighed. "You need something." He said, conviction threading his tone. "Moahk... you're coming out with me. And yes, I realized that you could force me out. But... I'm not going anywhere." It was more a metaphorical thing. After all these years, he'd been beside her, not offering more than what he could in the way of friendship. "I'm always here, Shandra." And he meant it. Always.

"That's not going to change. Just because Antonio is an a*****e," (not like he'd not warned her that so many times before.) " Doesn't mean that we're all going to desert you. Least of all me." Chocolate eyes pierced her green orbs, holding her attention on him by keeping a loose grip on her chin. "Naapi, Shandra. I came here to help you." And ultimately it was the reason he wasn't in Montana, why he wasn't a tribe member any more. For her to act as though that sacrifice meant nothing cut him deeply.

He'd given up his dreams to help out a friend. And she was shutting him out, with the rest of the world. "I chose to be here. For you. Because I was told you needed me. " And now he was rapidly learning that Shandra needed far more than the physical presence. She needed someone who she could vent everything to.

"Don't leave me in the dark because of this. Don't give up because he was an a*****e." His hands fell to her shoulders, the pads of his fingers massaging the tense muscles in her back. "Moahk... please come take a break with me."

There was a wince to Shandra's eyes when he brought up Antonio's name - a quick half blink and a harshness to the curvature of her mouth. She could feel a heat coming forward at the name, an anger. But it didn't quite reach, it seemed to be squeezed out by the part of her that was keeping her anywhere near calm. Collected. Or as close as she could get.

And before that he'd spoken of always being there. She doubted that...no one was always there. He just hadn't "left" because he was stubborn. More so than anyone else she'd ever met - Cissa might have been on the same level...maybe. And he was spouting off about wanting to be there?

Shandra had the urge to rip her face away from the loose holding he had on it. She did not liking being touched. But she didn't. She wanted to see just how far all this crap that fell from his lips actually went.

"As far as shutting you out goes - as far as keeping in in the dark - I'm not doing that. I'm just not going to lie to myself anymore," the redhead replied, her voice dull and listless.

She lightly picked her head up and pushed down his hand down before returning her eyes to the work in front of her.

"Like I said, Aren, I don't need a break. I don't require one," she spoke up and felt the need to add. "So if you're done touching me and trying to get me to do something I don't need to do...then I need to get back to my work."

Lies? Was she insinuating that any sort of companionship was wrong? No. He'd not let her believe that for one second.

Her distance wasn't normal, and he hated it. "Lie to yourself?! Moahk... just because a few people haven't been dependable doesn't mean everyone is like that." Defiance, his trademark stubborn streak wasn't going to relent. Surely she knew that. "You're my best friend. My. Very. Best. Friend." The only one who really knew what he had wanted from life. Cissa knew a great deal, had got a glimpse of what he did on the reservation. But Shandra had lived with him there, and he'd taught her so much about how to live. Not just how to live off of the land, but she'd been one of the very few people who had witnessed in full that Peta appreciated the gift of life, held it dear and cherished what had been delivered.

It was a side of him that he kept exclusively to himself, minus the red head who now didn't want anything to do with him. What was he here for, if she didn't want him to be around? Anger broiled within him; a first for the man when it came to her.

"Damnit Shandra." He'd given up everything to come to her aid, and until now he'd not mentioned it. He'd not actually come out and told her that he'd been exiled. That he was no longer a tribe member. Aren guessed, that she was aware he wasn't going to return, but he didn't know if she'd have though about why, exactly he wasn't going back.

"You aren't allowed to be cold to me." His voice held conviction, not exasperation. "You simply aren't allowed. Not when the only reason I'm not in Montana is because of you. I gave up everything. Everything. Went back on every decision I had ever made when my tribe gave me an ultimatum. It was you... or them. My last visit was one where they told me if I returned to the X men for one 'last' favor, then I was to stay in this world, and out of theirs."

Her distance meant so much more than a temporary thing, and it's why he pressed the matter so adamantly. If she was left like this, she'd desert them. Leave him alone. That was not going to happen.

His hands grabbed her chair, spun her around to look into her eyes; the harsh truth spelled lucidly within his chocolate irises. "And I ******** chose to come here. Because you needed me. So no. I'm not going to leave you alone, let you sit in your own misery. I'm not going to let you ruin the one last damned thing I have in my life. Call me selfish, call me a d**k... call me ********. I don't care. Shandra, you can think what you want of the rest of the world. But I'll be damned if I let that Hispanic b*****d kill our friendship because you've lost your faith in people."

She, more than anyone (save maybe ki'somma) would know what that meant to him, how serious he was when he'd just admitted to abandoning his family. For some, it might not be so great a deal. But not even in her state of denial could she find an excuse for that. Not when family had always meant everything to him. Not when, he'd never faltered on his plans to go back to the reservation and live as a member of the tribe. For him to be here at all was a miracle in itself, and said a lot of how he felt for the red head.

He sighed, blinking in surprise at himself. Never before had he laid into her like that. Normally, he was so collected, displaying only a zest for life. He'd probably send her into a shock just from his berating her for giving up on him. Antonio, if he ever saw him again... would die a very slow, painful death for what he did to Aren's best friend.

"You can think whatever you want of the other people on this base." He said quietly, putting a leash on his temper after giving her a confession. "But if you think, I'm ever going to run out on you, ever betray you after giving up all that I wanted in life just to help you out... you're wrong. It's not just because I'm stubborn, either. Though, it does help. You've been my very best friend since we were thirteen, and you happened upon the rez. You were there to help me transition with becoming part of the junior teams. You were there when I needed advice, a laugh, or some phenomenally awesome food. You were there for it all. How could I not offer the same to you?" It wasn't like he shared any commonalities with the Hispanic who had ripped her heart apart. To think that he and Antonio belonged to the same party was blasphemy. "Like it or not, you're stuck with me now. I've nowhere else to go. Nowhere else I'd rather be."

He spoke so many words so passionately that Shandra had no idea how he didn't just exhaust himself out from it. How could he be so unrestrained without feeling like it was draining? And why was he insistent in his endeavor on trying to get something out of her. She couldn't let him...all she had left was what she was keeping hidden. She didn't want to give that up so it could be used against her later. Even for Peta, she couldn't.

She wouldn't.

He may have known her the longest, sorta, but there were just some boundaries she couldn't bring herself to cross. Some doors even she couldn't bust open. And it so happened to be that she had a lot of doors between her and the ground floor - in a tower so high above in self isolation after the cruel world had tried to stone her to death. It was the only way she kept living...the more it happened, the higher in the tower she had to get when they found her and tried to do it all over again.

Could she even remember the little girl who'd lived on the ground floor? No...at least, she couldn't feel that child anymore. Erased, like so many of her other memories.

"Your tribe is a bunch of idiots," Shandra spoke as she stared into Peta's eyes. "Just because you're somewhere else doesn't make you a different person, this whole exile would have been the thing to change you the most...in the long run."

Something must have been broken inside of her, because she couldn't bring herself to bring forth any emotion. She knew that something must have been broken...but she didn't know how to fix it. Not with someone else in the room, not with anyone else near by. And definitely not anytime soon.

"But you can stay here as long as you need, as long as you want. I've told you that," despite all the wrongs she had done in her life, and would still continue to do, out right breaking her word was just not something she was ready to do.

She moved to stand up, she couldn't sit there anymore. She needed...something, and it was a grasping ice fist in her chest that was traveling further down. Shandra just couldn't...sit, and stare into his eyes. They were so full of everything she had to act to have. At least on the outside lately.

Maybe she really should just...go away. It wasn't like she needed the x-men to make a living. She'd like to see a thief alive today try to break her record, considering the fact that she didn't remember most of the items she'd actually really stolen it would be a miracle.

How could he be so damned passionate? It was still bothering her...on some level. How could he pour his whole...everything into an interaction with a person who clearly wanted to be lost. Needed to be lost for a while, really, was how she looked at it. She just needed time to climb up her tower more...to acclimate the new colder temperature and altitude. She just couldn't, didn't want to more like, be reminded of all the pain as she climbed up with broken feet.

As she moved through the office, even the small bit, there was a non-existence about her. As though something were missing in her movements. Spirit...thought...whatever it was, even she could notice the subtle change from her far away mentality. And that she didn't rightfully care. Maybe that's why...

She reflexively looked at a picture on her wall, her body going onto autopilot as though she were admiring it. The only thing missing would be the admiration in her eyes...or anything in her eyes really.

"You'll leave...sooner or later, even if its later," Shandra spoke out as her body continued to stare at the work of art. "Even if you die an old man in your bed...surrounded by loved ones, you'll still have left. Everyone gets sick of someone...or some path that they've been put on. And they fight against it, make a new path. Meet new people. Its a natural thing of life. You'll get sick of being around me cause I just...won't be doing the same thing."

She paused her hand pulling at her other elbow.

"And it won't be your fault. Everyone has a path...I'm still on the one I made when I was seventeen...yours has changed a lot - like everyone is supposed to. So what you should do it just relax, stop and look around. I'm not saying that your help has been unappreciated," She paused, her fingers trailing down her arm as though she'd lost the feeling in her hand.

"I just need time to think."

“They did what they thought was best. I kept waiting ..” He trailed off. It was best not to speak about the reasons why he’d delayed getting home. He’d missed ki’somma too much to just walk away; he’d needed to give her a chance to ask him to stay, or ask to go with him. Neither of which had happened. “I kept them waiting.” Aren corrected, a dejected trail tailing his words. “And, this was to be my last assignment. I just wanted to be able to tell you to come to the reservation when you wanted, that you’d always be welcome in my home.” Just because he was disappearing into the woods didn’t mean he wanted to lose his best friend. “But, as you’d guess... I wouldn’t have been able to afford the plane trip out off the reservation.”

A bitter smile followed the remark; everyone knew being a Native American was not conducive to living large monetarily wise. “Moahk.. you’ve told me that.. but then you shut me out as soon as the dickwad betrayed you. I’m not him. Antonio was never good for you.” How many times had he expressed his dislike for the man? “I only want to be here if you want me here.” The size shifter stated flatly. Either she’d drive him away, or she’d admit that she wanted him around, in her life.

He wasn’t going to let her weasel her way out of this.

“Shandra, do you realize what you're saying?" That he couldn't die, because it'd be considered leaving. “I'm never going to get tired of you. That's just absurd." He smiled, rolled his eyes at the impossibility. “Do you remember, my first morning on the teams? Do you remember the weeks following that? How utterly terrified I was that our friendship would be awkward because of..” Even now he couldn’t admit to her tackling him with kisses. Or how much either one of them had enjoyed the time together.

“Think all you want.” He murmured, his eyes following her in her ghostly steps. Nothing was right with her now. It physically hurt to watch her go through this; it really hurt to think she wanted to endure it on her own. “But I’m not going to leave you.” At least, not until he saw some sort of feeling from her. Hurt, anger... anything would be better than watching her be distant, cold.

Steady hands went to her shoulders when she finally stopped pacing. Already they were making soothing circles to her tense muscles. “Just don’t forget the wee people down here that still love you.”

"You should leave...run...it would just be safer for you," Shandra replied, her voice dipping down low into a whispered tone.

As far as she was considered it was true. How many people had been close to her had been hurt by her? Or had their lives torn apart near her? Even if they were just memories for some of them - Her friend had felt betrayed, she'd put her mom into the hospital, she'd hurt a lot of people while she was at the height of her thieving years, she'd pushed doc out of the window on a second floor, Brian's (the first one) whole look about himself had turned ugly before he ran, Everett dealt with so many of is own issues, Mason's family fell apart when he knew her and Jacen returned home to a villain waiting for him in the guise of his family.

And that was just while she was a student!

Shortly after that...Viktor had taken her back to his home in Russia where his family was destroyed, Adham had turned out to be a traitor had hasn't been heard from since, Viktor got taken by the Sentinels with the same silence deal, Kain was put through a dreadful rehab because of her, and now James was suffering from something oh so similar and to top it off he had a case of denial and hatred towards her, all because of her.

The only one who hadn't been affected by whatever was happening with her had been Antonio. No...he'd tossed all it back on her. Was this all Karma? What goes around comes around...maybe loosing the kid that she didn't know she had, had been a sign or something. She didn't want to hurt Peta too...she wanted one thing...just one thing not to be touched by the disasters she's created. But at the same time she wanted to stop wanting anything. Didn't the end result from every single time of wanting to keep something with her hurt?

Why did she keep clinging to things in this life when it was so obvious she shouldn't be there?

And how could he so freely say love? After all the hurt he claimed to go through...how did that concept even seem right to him anymore? She'd been an x-men, or at least apart of the school, since she was seventeen. And by that time, she was pretty sure she'd already lost the will to love...the drive to feel it. Love wasn't supposed to hurt - but every time she thought she got close again all it did was bring pain.

"Look...just...don't tell anyone," Shandra said, her tone dull. "The last thing they need to worry about is a leader who's having to cope with their own life."

She turned around to face him, her expression just as not there as it had been for the last two or so days. Her eyes looked a little misty from her previous thoughts and all that not blinking, but Shandra knew that would fade soon. It always did. She could count the times on her hands over how many times she remembered crying. And on one of those hands, she wouldn't even use it all, how many times she'd done so in front of anyone. Although if you wanted to be technically...she hadn't actually done even that - it had all just been a memory implanted in her head. Still...the fact of the matter was that the only sign of emotion she had even started to express was being subdued without even thinking about it.

Now wasn't the time to become a hobbled mess. She'd become less of an android in time...but for now, Shandra wholehearted believed that this nothingness state is what she needed for a while. She couldn't survive being as passionate as Peta was about life.

"Go on, you've done your share of comforting," the redhead spoke out in the same listless, unfeeling tone as she stared at the man she had known the longest after her first wake up call had become a new part of her life. "I'm sure you have more concerns with your time. I have to get back to work."

Aren sighed, shaking his head at her want to be alone. He'd gained a small victory in the sense that she was speaking to him, and that when she'd said comfort she'd conceded to the fact that the situation was bothering her. She needed to handle it.

Repressing things was only going to make it harder for her when she finally took the pill to swallow.

"I'll leave.... but on one condition Moahk." He was smiling when he said it... something his best friend needed. "We get dinner tonight... 7o'clock. You can either make it here, or we can go out to eat..." One eyebrow crawled higher than the other, indicating that he was indeed serious. Yes, he realized she needed alone time, but she also needed the persistence of someone close, so she'd know that her whole world hadn't fallen apart, hadn't slipped away with the last of her trust for Antonio.

"Either way..." You need a break before you lose it. "We need some time together... I think I've rarely gotten to see you outside of meetings and such since I've been here." Running the base kept her busy.. Helping Melody with Aegis and avoiding seeing Cissa kept him rather occupied.

"Considering you're the reason I agreed to the assignment... I feel that I'm due that." He laughed lightly, wanting to convey so many things to her. Things that she'd likely not be able to hear yet. But they were there, just in case she was listening.

Aren stood then, kissed the top of Shandra's red locks and smiled. "I'll be back in a few hours." Nope, he'd not give her the chance to tell him no again. She'd humor him in it, because he was being agreeable. And if not... she knew how stubborn he could be when he got his mind set.

* * * * * * *

He didn't knock on the office door this time when he came in, but he was stopped by the locks on her door to her suite, so he rapped his knuckles across the portal. "You ready?" He asked, not announcing who it was. Really, who else would it be?

Shandra looked out at the apartment door with disinterest in a way. She would have thought the fact that she wasn’t in the office would have appeased him enough. She’d actually started to do something other than x-men filing and record keeping. But apparently that wasn’t enough for the persistent Native American. No, he had to go and try to keep to his word of making her take a break. Even if she didn’t want one. Even if she would swear up and down she was fine without one, he wasn’t even listening.

One of these days she would have to explain to Peta that she was a grown up. And that she was, in fact, his current leader. And that she’d been running her own affairs and looking out for herself since she was about ten, give or take. Because he obviously wasn’t taking her word for things.

She stood up from the exercise ball she’d managed to pull out of her spare room, her hair pulled up into such a high bun that every hair was tightly held. Crossing her great room wasn’t an issue and neither was opening the door after deactivating the defense system. As she opened up the door, Shandra moved to the side a little bit to let him in.

“There is food in the fridge,” Shandra spoke up.

If he expected her to go out he really must not have known about her habits of eating. Currently she couldn’t actually remember if she’d ever strictly told him, or if he had ever heard from some of the more vocal team members that she had a while back. Besides that she didn’t feel like going out, nor did she feel like eating. Sometimes when she didn’t eat…she almost got tired. More often than not it just hurt, but she still didn’t feel like eating dinner.

Without pause for him, Shandra walked back over to the ball and propped herself against it. Her legs were almost exactly forming a right angle with the majority of her body and her arms were out. Only her hands weren’t out and empty; she was holding a book in Japanese out and idly reading it as she stood (if that was the word) there. If Peta wanted to keep an eye on her, she wasn’t going to belly side up for him. He might have wanted her to try and relax, to take a break from the things that she felt she had to do each day…but that wasn’t who she was. That wasn’t who she was capable of being. Especially not when she was trying to keep up a stronger front so she didn’t get vulnerable…she had made too many enemies in her life to feel too comfortable being vulnerable anymore.

Aren sighed as she let him in, rolling his eyes heavenward when she looked away. Did she really think it was going to be that easy? When, had she known him to ever give up with her? "Moahk. I'm not eating dinner by myself." He stated flatly, knowing that she'd go about her rituals while he raided her kitchen with absolutely no qualms.

"The agreement was that we'd have dinner together. Remember?" His head tilted, exasperated with her in the moment he found himself with her. "That was the deal."

Really, he could use the night out. As could she. "Please. Don't think this is just for you. Everyone has essentially left me to rot." Oh yes, if he had to he'd play this card out like the winning hand it was. "Cissa, Melody leaving base... The tribe. All I have is you." And being so distant isn't helping. And it's certainly not healthy for you.

Once she started reading from the book, Aren let out a deep breath. "Alright.. I warned you." He muttered, lifting the book from her fingers and taking hold of her, tossing her over his shoulder and starting for the door. "Just remember, I'm your best friend. And you wouldn't want to hurt your best friedn." Actually, he was counting on that idea.

Shandra looked up at him when he moved over to where she was balancing. There was a moment in her that paused as he took her book out of her hands. She’d expected him to do that, but she hadn’t realized he actually would. And the fact that he’d actually had the nerve to throw her over his shoulder.

She had never let anyone get away with that.

Shandra reached down to grab the farthest she could on his legs. She curled her body upwards as she clenched her teeth lightly. For a split second she stood straight up before she let go of Peta and curled into a roll to cushion the fall. The base leader stood up abruptly and looked at him.

“Peta…” her voice held a tiny warning, but to be honest it wasn’t worth very much. “What…in the world was that for? Where do you want to go that badly?”

Aren grinned at her reaction, expecting nothing less than for her to fight back. But fighting was a start; it meant there was still a bit of spark in her. And that was exactly what he wanted to draw out. "Out." He said, simply with a casual shrug. "Now we can do this the hard way, or the easy way... but either way... we're going out. To dinner. I made reservations."

For a second the broken sentences reminded him of the reservation, and how thick his accent had been when coming to the Academy. Had it been nearly six years ago?

And still to this day he could remember seeing the back of Shandra's head, an incredulous glee at having someone familiar around filling him. She couldn't have known how happy he was to see her.. how happy he was now to see that inkling of spirit back in her. "And for a Native who's always broke... Reservations when not meant to talk about where we set up our tee-pees... are a huge deal." He winked then. Had she slept in their tee-pee at all when she'd stayed with the family? They did have one for the summer...

But Aren was pretty sure that for the sake of propriety she'd remained inside the house. "You wouldn't disappoint me, would you?"

She kept finding herself staring at him today. It seemed all she could do lately. It was less engaging than most things but still it was some form of interaction that she was trying to avoid. But how could she not engage in a staring when he kept bringing up things that made her do it?

"I don't want to go out," Shandra repeated in a monotonous voice. "I told you that already."

Really, how thick of a skull could he have? Or did he have a hearing problem she hadn't been made aware of? She didn't want to go out in public, she didn't want to talk to people...she didn't want to interact until she felt like she wasn't ready to explode in the face of everything. All Shandra wanted was time to herself, but he didn't seem to be getting that. And he kept throwing his disbandment in her face...

Did he really blame her for all of those?

She didn't frown, her face still felt stiff. Despite that, however, the thought flavored her mind as she washed it back and forth. Peta very well might blame her for everything that had happened. Hadn't it been the old woman's, the one from his tribe, that had predicted she'd be an important decision he'd have to make? Did he make the wrong one because he thought that meant she was supposed to be the right one?

Did he seriously think she was the kind of person that liked to go out to places?

"Me going out is not a very good idea," subtly she looked down to what she currently had on. No way in hell, unless they were being dragged to hell, was this something she'd go out of her apartment in. "And how can I disappoint you if you knew I'd tell you that?”

You'll have to notice that during all of this, Shandra had yet to move an inch.

"Because, you won't disappoint me; you never have before." Aren stated, voice full of faith that she'd relent before him. She always had before, and this was one battle that actually mattered on whether or not he won. "You won't tell me no forever." She couldn't, not after everything.

"Go get dressed, Moahk... I don't want us to be late to dinner." Aren said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Grant me this, and I'll let you alone for the duration of the night. I'll not force you out of your hole any more."

His brown eyes were soft, understanding. What he was asking her to do would push at her limits... but if the roles were reversed, and he weren't himself... Moahk would have been there to nurse him back to what was a broken road. Antonio had never deserved her; how many times had he said that? And this was why; a swell of dejection wrapped through him as he watched his best friend, compartmentalizing too much because her heart was broken.

Neither of their love lives had been the best. Cissa and he hadn't ever become a couple, Melody was a basket case... and Shandra's lover that she'd nearly had a child with had betrayed her in the darkest of ways. Not to mention the other guys that she'd not talk about -- compartmentalized like the rest of her unwanted emotions.

But, the one thing that had stayed the same was their friendship... and because of the Hispanic being the typical a*****e, Aren felt that it was in danger... that she'd box away that with everything else. Just show me there's some life in there... just a glimpse so that I know you're going to recover from this. But as he stared at her, he saw nothing but stone... "Please..." He grinned then, doing what he could to break up the tension. "and if you talk to my mother you know I don't use that word often."

Knowing Peta at all told her that the deal he brought up might be worth it. He’d leave her alone, at least for the night. And if she so chose, by that point she could have packed enough to last her a while and left the base for a country he’d have no way of getting to. Or at least, no means of being able to find her in. But the idea of going out to dinner with him wasn’t settling.

More often than not she couldn’t eat out. At all. There were a few things off of some restaurant menus but more often than not it was better just to stir clear. After all, restaurants can claim they do one thing and then do something completely different. It wouldn’t be very amusing if after five minutes into the meal she had to hurry to the restroom. Then again, that might get him to accept the fact that she did not belong out among normal people just yet…and the rest of the night off would be a bonus.

Maybe he’d finally get why she was better alone.

“Remember, dinner and then you leave me to do all the things I need to do for the rest of the night,” Shandra spoke out before she nodded almost sharply to him and spun around.

She was closer to her room than Peta was so she didn’t have to pass him up. Truly he should be thankful that she wasn’t the kind of girl to take forever getting dressed for anything. The majority of what she did consisted of a three minutes shower in which, at the end, she pushed away all the water that was on the surface of her body. That took care of drying off for the majority of it, except for the water that her hair seemed to have absorbed. An absorbent towel was wrapped around her head so tightly it could have pulled other’s eyes upwards as she went to her closet. Judging by the fact that he was actually wearing a jacket and spoke about a reservation it wasn’t a place she should wear her overly baggy tee-shirts and jeans to.

Shandra slipped into dark blue, oval neck, sweater dress that had sleeves to the elbow and stopped mid thigh. However, underneath she slipped on a pair of black fitted, boot cut jeans and a pair of black wedge-heeled boots. After the five minutes she took to get dressed, her chest length red hair was mostly dry hair. It didn’t take more than two minutes to brush through that, upside down of course to give it what some people would consider styling but she considered it as getting rid of all the tangles, and grab a knit jacket that would fall to her knees. When that was all said and done she was already walking out of her bedroom door towards where Peta should be.

She’d only kept him waiting about ten minutes, if that, in total. If this reservation was actually for a set time he should be very thankful she wasn’t someone who took an hour just to get ready to leave the house like Cissa.

“Are you ready?” she asked in a bland tone. “Where is the place that was so important to go to that you gave me an ultimatum?”

All the while she couldn’t help but think ’On your own head be it.’

Compromise. It was a rare thing between them this early on in the argument, but Aren was relieved to see her be so agreeable. Napi, though... she was a stubborn little thing... he'd almost thought that she'd win this one. He'd researched restaurants in San Francisco, making sure that the entire menu was organic, free of preservatives that made Shandra sick.

“That's the deal.” Aren said, grinning at the defiant tone. “I won't keep you from your work forever.” He promised, knowing that she probably did have mounds of things she needed to see accomplished. Really, getting her out of the apartment and office was the feat-- he didn't care so much about the rest of it. If she agreed to step foot out, immerse herself around other people, the size shifter would consider it an improvement.

Unlike the women he'd taken out to dinner in the past, (most of them not at all platonic the way he was with Shandra), the red head didn't keep him waiting for long. No, she reached presentable in less than fifteen minutes. The models of the past few months... one had taken a grand total of two hours to get ready, and it left him to wonder what she looked like without all the glitz and glam that got her on the covers. Moahk was pretty naturally... a rare quality in most of the women he'd met off base.

“It's not the place, Moahk... it's the idea.” She should have known that. That he wasn't one for elegance and the superficial meanings. “The principle... and the shared time together. It's long overdue.... I don't think I've had dinner with you since the first night I was here.” He gave her a stern look, one that said he was displeased with that fact. “We should make a habit of this if you like the food.”

He had a taxi waiting for them outside, one that he didn't have to give instructions to, because he'd already gotten everything programmed into his gps. “It's a small restaurant.” He warned, as though that would be something that displeased Shandra, though knowing fully well that she'd most likely appreciate the small crowd.

When they arrived, Aren got out of his side and ran over to open the door from her. Sure, it wasn't a date, but the formalities and the idea of being a gentleman applied. Chocolate eyes peered down at her, melting with an obvious affection that was reserved only for his best friend. “Thanks for humoring me in this.” He whispered as he opened the lobby door for her.

The lighting of the place was beige themed, bright but not too so; and open. The set up left one feeling airy – a detail that the native in him craved. As they were seated after his giving his last name as a way to get a table, Aren smiled at her. “Have anything on the menu... it's all safe for you to consume.” He'd made sure of it before choosing this location over the others, going as far as calling the chef to be sure that only pure ingredients were used. “And... I hear that it's all really good.”

Shandra hadn’t said anything about his comments about doing eating together more often when they started the trip. She didn’t see the point in planning out events to be honest. It always got them in trouble with one bad guy or another when they were in a large group…but being spontaneous often got them in trouble as well. So neither way seemed appealing to her anymore. Maybe a group of two wouldn’t attract too much attention. At least, she could only hope.

She didn’t even say anything about them taking a taxi or him dodging the question of where they were going. No, she really didn’t care to say anything. He was already playing the upper hand with this game…she wasn’t going to give him anything more that could be used against her. Nor was she going to say a word about it being a small restaurant. When they arrived, she didn’t even bother to take in the name of the place.

As far as she was concerned he was forcing her to do this. And she was just not going to enjoy it one bit. At least he understood, which his admittance in a whisper, that she wasn’t really doing this of her own free will. Not really, not in the sense that she was thinking about this. Even the open feeling of the place wasn’t going to make her change her mind on that…nope…this was a completely forced outing.

She did have something to say to the invitation to have anything on the menu though… “When did you start doing homework?”

Though the sound was blah, the thoughts that accompanied it were very sour in her head. She had wanted to make him feel awkward, not for him to have actually did a bit of research in the few hours apart so she couldn’t do that. Shandra sat back, straight in her chair as her eyes scanned the areas. Salads were always the safer choice despite the fact that she only ate salad when she didn’t feel like spending the time to cook meat.

The waitress moved over and introduced herself. Professional, clean, friendly. Shandra really couldn’t give a care right now, she wanted to be back in her apartment reading her book. But at least she could do the girl the favor of not letting that show – not like anything was going to for a while. There was a certain beauty to marble…but also a certain thing that someone learned to fear. She left after doing the first round of making sure that everything was okay, what they wanted to drink, and all that. By the time she came back within five or so minutes, Shandra had already decided what off the menu she was going to try not to throw up.

“I will have the Wild Arugula Salad,” Shandra spoke out in a calm voice, not one to let Peta order for her despite the fact that he was playing the role of the gentleman tonight.

“What would you like to drink with your meal?”

“Water will be fine,” The answer was very easy for her, she didn’t hold any sort of alcohol well. She didn’t get sick – it just reacted very quickly and very easily in her system.

“And you sir?” The waitress asked, turning towards Peta with a smile.

Shandra idly looked down at the menu – what in the world would Peta eat at a place like this? She’d always seen him more of a hearty eater – thick slice of steak over a breast of chicken kind of guy. And with a menu that was, as far as she could tell, very light and so very far away from what she was used to seeing him it…it made her wonder how much of his homework he’d actually done.

Aren didn't try and force a conversation out of her, to do so would have made her miserable and him want to beat his head against a wall. He shrugged at the first thing she did say, grinning. “I had no problem doing homework if I found it relevant. And you, my dear, are certainly relevant.” So of course he'd made sure. “Besides, I didn't want you to be miserable because you ate something that wasn't organic.”

He waited as Shandra ordered a salad and water when the waitress came over to him and he pointed out the NY strip of steak, which came with the same sort of salad.. “That will be fine... and some black tea for me.”

“What do you think of the place?” Aren asked, cautious because her mood hadn't lightened yet.

"I think," Shandra paused for a moment as she slowly looked around, "that this place would be far too easy to attack. The structure is not meant to withstand what could easily be put on it. And its about as guarded as the parks."

Which, of course, everyone knew to avoid after dark unless they were someone well trained to handle the darker situations that could arise. Or if they were there looking for something in that park that the cops shouldn't find.

Slowly, Shandra took a sip from her glass as she looked at him through slightly lidded eyes. She knew that was not the question he meant to ask but it was the first one that came to mind. Besides, she was holding to her conviction that this was forced. And the only consent she'd given was under an ultimatum.

"As for the food I don't know yet so I couldn't tell you," fine, so she was going to direct the conversation away from what came from her mind first so the good citizens of San Francisco didn't freak out. "At least it doesn't feel like a confined space."

She hated confined spaces.

"How did you find this place?" She was still willing to bet that he'd been shown it by one of his latest flings.