A sigh left the molecule manipulator’s lips as she glanced outside. The X-Men seriously needed to pick something less shiny than one of Bucharest’s top hotels. Earlier during the day, Slate announced that the X-Men had come to Bucharest from the Hungarian borders. Well, at least those who had left Bucharest returned, anyway. Among them, Sam Johnson. Blue eyes focused on one of the distant lights of the city. The night had already covered in darkness her former hometown. Sighing again, she wondered where on Earth was Sam at this hour. A quick glance at the watch and she confirmed herself that 24 minutes have passed since she last checked. 09:26 pm.

Fortunately, both Kabal and personal errands had been ended by the time the X-Men returned. Once the news of their arrival reached her ears, she proceeded with checking out from the other hotel and move on to Carol Park Hotel, if possible without any X-Men noticing her presence before Sam. Could you blame her for wanting to make him a surprise? One hell of a surprise too.

Things worked better than she expected. First, she made sure that she paid enough money to the receptionist so he could tell her where her unfaithful husband was spending his nights. With a sympathetic smile upon his face and with a very sticky hand the man gave her the room number. Then, she got her own room, just one room away from Sam’s. After slipping another bill in the receptionist’s hand, she was on her way to the elevator.

After reaching her room, she took her time to unpack, from time to time spying on Sam’s room. Everything was pretty much silent, even when the molecule manipulator had finished everything that could have been done. That was the moment when she decided that she should wait in his room. This time, she didn’t choose the services of the sticky fingered receptionist. She was a molecule manipulator, why would she?

Almost two hours were spent waiting, the sounds of her breaths being the only thing that could be heard. From time to time, foot steps caught her attention, but, unfortunately none came her way. Alexandra was a patient person, of course, life had taught her that. But, at some point, patience became tiring. Her silhouette moved from one side of the room to the other, a finger tapping lightly against her leg as she walked.

A sound caught her attention. Foot steps coming closer and closer. Then they stopped by the door. A smirk appeared on her lips as she moved quickly so she wouldn’t be noticed from the first instance. The door would provide her the hiding place she needed until Sam had gotten into the room. When he did, she waited for him to make a few steps inside, and only then, with silent steps she moved behind him.

Sighing slightly as he walked down the darkened streets of Bucharest Sam eyed the hotel from around the corner of another building, why was he and some of his team members staying at such a high-end hotel? Simple, in times like this those who had money would have split town long before the camps were set up, it was like hiding in plain site a tip here and a dropped bill there Sam felt the power of money and was disgusted with it. Did he want to stay in a hotel like this? Hell no, he would have preferred to stay at the Jet with Kaz and those who had elected to help him and other mutants border hop.

Though he did have to make an appearance every now and then with the hotel to keep up appearances that and then there was Slate, he knew where Sam was when he was at the hotel, all other times the small teen leader would have no way in getting in touch with him.

It was late and he was tired, so tired that if he wasn’t careful mistakes could be made, could was the key word. In situations like this Sam always managed to be far more careful when it delta with others lives opposed to his own, something he was well aware of. Looking at a somewhat nervous man at the front desk Sam smiled and asked him what a lovely night it was for a walk before moving on up to the elevator and eventually to his room.

Opening the door quietly and shutting it behind him Sam looked around and took a step in then another his breathing slowing down from the night hours before. Looking around his dark room Sam heard a footstep, one then another, they were muffled as if the owner of the footsteps was trying to keep silent as if to take him by surprise… Sam didn’t like these kinds of surprises, hell he punched Dom when the kid jumped out of his closet one night.

Thought the unmasked windows Sam saw some lights from the city off in the distance, turning on his heels and bending his knees Sam ducked and got into a fighting stance ready for the midnight aggressor. As he turned two golems appeared behind the aggressor read to strike if he gave the thought, ”Your surrounded! I’m not the type of guy who likes to be sneaked up on, talk fast before I decided not to give you a chance!” Sam said in a stern and deadly tone not able to see the face of his aggressor due to the darkness of his room.

Alexandra wasn’t aware which action made her turn around faster. Was it Sam’s call of war, announcing her that she was surrounded? Or maybe the sudden coldness that reached her skin quickly, especially when she was wearing a tank top which didn’t make wonders for covering the skin on her arms. Adrenaline pumped trough her system as instincts and emotions kicked in before rational thought. Alexandra made a 180 degrees rotation, and in the same time backed away from whatever the threat was.

Ice golems shone in the light the city cast upon them trough the windows, both of them in fighting stance, claws extended toward her. At this point, she forgot that maybe if she would have told Sam that it was his girlfriend, he would have stopped it. Her own hands went into motion, quickly grasping the ice. The molecule manipulator closed her eyes as she focused her mutation on the molecules of iced water. The golems’ arms turned into water and with a sigh she let it drop to the ground.

Blue eyes narrowed at the mutilated forms of the golems. “If I have a great way to greet my boyfriend… what can I say about yours?” She did not turn, just glanced as Sam over the shoulder before blue eyes could return to the golems.

Surprised by the turn and the splash of water from his golem’s arms he blinked once and then heard the voice, the tone and then the fact that the golem’s arms turning to water made sense. Sam’s expression changed immediately his crouched form resumed it’s normal height as his arms lowered to his sides. The Golem’s remained momentarily as Alex continued to look at them. His head gave a quick nod as the golems shattered into tiny bits then drifted apart leaving nothing more than the puddle Alex had made moments before.

”Al?” Sam asked his tone a softer one with a far more curious nature behind it. His arms moved forward as he placed his hand on her shoulder to make sure she was actually there and not just a dream. Still having no idea how to fully understand the Gem he had received from Sara his words turned into the Romanian language without his knowledge ”…. Nu ar trebui sa˘ fii aici, Alex.…” You shouldn't be here, Alex he said trying to adopt a serious tone as he took a step forward as his other hand grabbed her other shoulder and pulled her into a hug from behind.

His hands wrapped around her waist and across her chest as Sam pressed his face on the side of hers his chin a few inches above her shoulder. ” Dar mi-a fost dor de tine. Iar faptul ca˘ nu sângerezi face ca întâmpinarea mea sa˘ fie mai buna ….” But I missed you…also, your not bleeding my greeting was far nicer he said simply as he continued to hug her, he was smiling, the first time he had been smiling since he first landed from across the sea.

Letting out a large tired sigh Sam let Alex go and back up his tone trying to take a serious one again as he tried to mask how happy he was to see her, ” Am crezut ca˘ o sa˘ stai acasa˘... Nu am vrut sa˘ vii aici, Alex..” I thought you would have stayed home… I didn't want you coming here Alex… he said his shoulders drooping into a relaxed state, still unaware that he had jumped the language barrier with her.

The ice golems shattered in front of her in tiny bits of ice, some reflecting the light as they floated down. Alexandra watched them absently as Sam called her name, maybe a bit more of a question, as if he wasn’t sure if it was her or not. Nostrils flared. She was still angry at him for the little trick he pulled out on her back in New York. And she was just about to speak her mind when arms enveloped her in a hug, his face resting on her shoulder as he spoke… in Romanian?

Slate. And Dragon Speak Gems. Of course, she feigned surprise, her face turning to the side, a quizzical look on her face, but waited for him to finish… Bad idea. Maybe his words over the phone didn’t soften her up, but his words, purred in her ear in her own language did. She fought to keep her lips into a straight line, to keep the same level of anger until Sam paused. Only then, she let out a heavy sigh and with a heavy heart as well, she removed his hands from her body and turned around.

Then, without much of a warning, she slapped him. “Crezi că dacă îmi şopteşti câteva cuvinte în limba mea natală am să uit totul, Sam?” ( You think that if you whisper a few words in my native tongue I’m going to forget everything, Sam?) The molecule turned her head to the window, arms folding in front of her as her voice became softer, but reproach was weighting heavy on it. “M-ai minţit, Sam Johnson.” (You lied to me, Sam Johnson.) Funny that this comment was coming from the Queen of Lies herself. But she felt like she lied enough for both of them. She wanted Sam to be truthful with her where she couldn’t. Selfish? Maybe.

Her legs started to move as she walked over to the window, teeth gritted together. She hated what happened moments ago between the two of them. She hated it with a passion. “Nu ai nici un drept să îmi spui că ar fi trebuit să stau acasă. În caz că nu îţi dai seama, asta a fost casa mea.” (You have no right to tell me that I should have stayed home. In case you haven’t figured it out, this was my home.) Alexandra raised her hand trough the air as she pointed to the window. Or better said, to what was past the window. Closing her eyes for a moment, she turned around, and when she did open her eyes again, she hoped she’d have enough strength to argue.

Feeling her body relax from his hug Sam was under the impression that she was no longer mad at him… then came the slap right across the face and without warning, if he wanted to he could have tried to avoid it but didn’t. Face now burning read where he was slapped Sam blinked once and then twice deciding not to do anything to relive the pain like icing it over. Then like another slap to the face Sam noticed she pointed out to him that he was speaking in her language. Shaking his head slightly annoyed with the magic bilingual jems Sam turned his attention to the window and where Alex was.

Turning his body his face still burning he walked over to her and said slowly still in her tongue, ”Da, te-am mint¸it, dar am facut-o cu un motiv întemeiat. Nu am vrut sa˘ fie nevoie sa˘ fiu îngrijorat daca˘ tu o sa˘ fii ra˘nita˘ sau nu, însemni mult pentru mine, s¸i din punctul de vedere al unui superior, ceea ce facem aici e mult prea important ca sa˘ la˘sa˘m loc de gres¸eli. “ Yes, I lied to you but it was for good reason, I didn’t want to have to worry about you getting hurt Alex, you mean to much to me, and from a bosses standpoint what we are doing here is far too important to have any mistakes happen. He moved closer to Alex his hands still at his side, despite the fact that she had just hit him he wanted to embrace her and cling to her, it was weird after seeing someone almost everyday and then suddenly not seeing them at all, he was having Alex withdrawals.

Fighting the urge to hug her again Sam folded his hands and walked over to his bed falling down on it with a thud missing his room and bed back home.” Îmi pare ra˘u s¸i s¸tiu ca˘ asta e casa ta, de aceea am vrut sa˘ stai acasa˘. Al. Am vrut sa˘ te protejez, nu am vrut sa˘ ît¸i vezi casa as¸a. “ I’m sorry and I know this is your home, that's why I wanted you to stay home Al, I wanted to protect you from seeing your home like this. even if he originally wanted her to come with him and the team in the first place he now regretted mentioning all together that she was part of his team for the mission.

Letting out a loud sigh he continued to ramble in a tongue that was not his own, ” Pot¸i sa˘ fii supa˘rata˘ pe mine cât vrei dar decizia mea ra˘mâne aceas¸i. Es¸ti prea emot¸ionala˘, puterile tale m-au atacat pe mine s¸i aproape au renovat laboratorul doctorului, nu ma˘ pot¸i învinova˘t¸i...” You can be mad at me all you want but I still stand by my original decision, you were far to emotional, your powers attacked me and almost reconfigured Doc’s lab, you can’t blame me Al waiting in silence for Alex’s argument Sam laid back on his bed and stretched out his arms trying to get them to breath so he could be ready for his upcoming work only hours away.

Her lips were pursed together tightly, in the attempt to hold her tongue until Sam finished speaking. To resist the temptation was difficult, but she had managed it. For a while she kept her eyes locked on Sam but once he fell onto the bed, her attention trailed to one of the walls as she chewed on the insides of her cheeks to calm herself down. She hated it when someone talked when they didn’t have any idea of what was going on. And Sam had no idea of what was going on in her head.

When he finished speaking, blue eyes trailed back to him anger shinning brightly in them. Then with quick moves, she went by the bed and bent her body over his, using her hands to support herself while she kept her face inches away from Sam’s. “Ce ştii tu despre asta Sam? Crezi că nu mi-am mai văzut casa aşa? Acesta e al doilea act de înregistrare! De ce crezi că am plecat de aici?” (What do you know about this Sam? You think I haven’t seen my home like this? This is the second Registration Act! Why do you think I left in the first place?)

Blue eyes locked on Sam’s as her voice sounded bitter and hurt. She wasn’t saying this to have his pity. On the contrary, she didn’t want him to worry about her. Back then, there was no one to worry about her and everything was fine. “Cum vrei să mă comport? E casa mea, e locul în care am crescut şi e-” (How would you like me to act? It’s my home, it’s the place where I grew up and-) And its my fault. Alexandra stopped just in time. She paused, letting a heavy sigh leave her lips as she closed her eyes, only to open them when she started speaking. “Nu vreau să te îngrijorezi pentru mine. Pot să îmi port singură de grijă. Şi dacă nu mă vrei în echipa ta, tot aici am să rămân, pe cont propriu. Când ne întoarcem poţi să îmi faci ce vrei însă acum... acum nu plec.” (I don’t want you to be worried about me. I can take care of myself. And if you don’t want me on your team, I’ll stay here anyway, on my own. Once we get back you can do with me whatever you want, but now… now I’m not leaving.)

Now looking up into her blue eyes as she leaned over him her hair slipping into his vision monetarily before he turned his head to remove the hair from his face. ”Eu... eu nu am s¸tiut.” I…I didn’t know… said Sam his voice weak losing the power he had spoke with before. What else could he say, she never did tell him the reasons why she left in the first place and from what some of his friends told him back home the camps were unbearable. He was fortunate enough to miss them completely the first time, most likely due to T.A.T. intervention.

Hearing the tone of her voice Sam reached up and brushed the hair from her face leaving his hand on it. His thumb running up and down he sighed his tone adopting more of a lovers tone than anything else, ”S¸tiu ca˘ pot¸i sa˘ ai grija˘ de tine , dar asta nu ma˘ face sa˘ nu ma˘ îngrijorez pentru tine.” I know you can take care of yourself, but that still doesn’t stop me from worrying about you… Sam hand that was placed on her cheek moved back around her neck and then he gave a small pull so she would come closer to him. It was a weak pull seeing as he still wasn’t sure if she wanted to get that close yet, she was after all still mad at him for leaving her behind.

”Nu vreau sa˘ ît¸i fac nimic, în echipa˘ ît¸i sunt superior s¸i ar trebui sa˘ faci ce ît¸i spun, dar ai dreptate, nu aveam nici un drept sa˘ te las as¸a.” I don’t want to do whatever to you, I am your superior in regards to the team, you should do what I say, but you are right, this was something I had no right leaving you out on. his eyes averted out the window as he continued, ”Dar daca˘ es¸ti aici deja, atunci pot¸i sa˘ ne ajut¸i, avem nevoie de tot ajutorul pe care îl putem obt¸ine.” But seeing as your already here, you might as well help us, we could use all the help we can get.

Of course he did not know. The molecule manipulator sighed. The fact that the X-Men were walking into this without being informed on the past situations was a bit of a shock for her. Did they have any idea on what had caused this second Registration Act? Did they have any idea that her family’s death was the push in the direction of war that Romanians needed? Probably not.

Alexandra locked her eyes on Sam, resisting the pull toward him. She needed to stay focused on the situation at hand. Any touch of his made things more difficult, it melted the anger away and she wanted to keep her stance until things were made her way. A small feeling of satisfaction made its appearance when Sam agreed with her staying here. One, she wanted to be close to him and keep an eye on him, keep him out of the harm’s way, because, even if Sam knew it or not, in Romania she had the upper hand. And two, another mission was complete.

“Good. Cause superior or boyfriend, Sam, when I want something, I get it.” she switched back to English, a sigh leaving her lips as she finished speaking. Then, she smiled as she ceased to resist to the urge of having him closer. “And good because now I can say that I’ve missed you too.” With a smile still on her lips, she lowered her head, locking her lips with his. Yeah, she had missed him and seeing him had brought joy to her heart for the first time since he had left but she would have rather cut a hand than admitting it to him before proving that she was right.

The act of lips locking was enjoyable to Sam seeing as they haven’t seen each other in a long while, however as enjoyable as it was it was somewhat confusing due to the flipped actions, first she was hitting him then she was kissing him. Despite the confusion Sam wasn’t stupid enough to ask about it, he was just happy she wasn’t mad at him anymore or at least not showing her directed anger towards him.

The sudden change from Romanian to English seemed to trigger the change of his own language as well, ”Bit Selfish aren’t you?” Sam asked pulling his head back for a second to reveal a teasing grin. When she mentioned that she missed him as well Sam lifted his head back up into a kiss. Once the lips were locked Sam wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a hug and then he lowered his head parting their lips once again however his arms remained wrapped around her.

”So tired…” Sam said his head resting back on the bed as he let out a loud yawn, for the past few days sleep was limited the only time he really slept was when he was staying at the hotel, in fact if it wasn’t for Alex being there he would have passed out the second he shut the door behind him. His eyes closed for a second as his arms loosened up on Alex, ”When did you get here?” he asked again followed by another yawn.

The molecule manipulator chuckled at Sam’s comment about selfishness. A little? That was one way of putting it. His grin was answered with one of her own. Poor Sam had no idea just how selfish she was… with a few exceptions, of course, exceptions she wasn’t sure if she should be happy or worry about it. Because, well, some of them involved Sam.

Alexandra moved her body so that now she was seated, legs sprawled out on the floor while her upper body was resting on Sam’s, faces inches away… errr, but not for long. A smile appeared on her face as the kiss ended… just like it always did. “You think you can really blame me for getting what I want?” A small laugh left her lips as she pushed herself up from the previous position. Bending her knees as she put them on the bed, now only her feet being off the bed, the molecule manipulator turned her body toward Sam, one hand placed next to him for support the other resting on his stomach, two fingers tapping slightly against it.

“I got on the next plane after you left.” Alexandra replied, blue eyes watching Sam, her teeth flashing for a second as she smiled. Eyeing his tired face, Alexandra sighed as she moved on to more serious matters. “What have you been up to? How’s the mission going?” She asked curiously. Or at least pretending to be curious anyway, cause everything that had been shared with Slate was pretty much shared with her as well.

Nodding his head slightly not exactly how fast a commercial line could fly to Romania but it wouldn’t be a quick ride, which would explain the time skip since their last meeting. One where Sam departed a little less gracefully than he would have like, that was over now and she was kissing him, lying on top of him and smiling so he figured she wasn’t that mad and if she was she was done showing her anger. ”Yes, yes I do think I can blame you for being selfish.” he said quickly before she changed the subject.

A pair of fingers tapped on his stomach as she asked him what they had been up to. ”Everything and nothing…” he said as his eyes closed slowly feeling the cold grasp of slumber land put it’s hold on him, ”No matter how many mutants we get across the border there are thousands more that contact shortly after trying to get out of the country…” Sam let out a weak yawn this time as his hand stretched out behind him as he readied to sleep.

Adding slowly after the stretch Sam continued, ”got about a hundred people out of the country on my own today, didn’t run into any trouble but that was only today, usually I play distraction while other members of the team get them to safety, yesterday some members of the mutants that we were helping got picked up at the check point… didn’t leave anyone behind, all that we found was a little teddy bear, some kid is probably missing it terribly…” he said his emotions starting to come out briefly before he inhaled through his nose and prevented it from running along with a side show of tears.

”I grabbed the bear but I doubt, I’ll manage to get it to him seeing as I don’t really know what he looks like… this needs to end…” Sam said his eyes opening and then and looking up at Alex before his eyes closed once again ad another yawn sounded.

Alexandra couldn’t say that she was very touched once she heard the teddy bear story. Her face remained neutral. In times like these emotions meant failure. She was already having trouble with her emotions for Sam and feared that at some point they’ll be used against her. Sighing she let her eyes travel to the wall once again starring at the texture. “If you want for this to end you have to go back to the roots, Sam.” she said.

“Helping them to get across the borders it’s good, yes… but that’s not going to stop anything.” A hand traveled to the side of her head, rubbing slightly against it. “Mutants are getting captured and put into the camps. Sending them to another country is not the solution.” The hand fell back, resting on her knee. “Making Romania a country where they could walk free again is.” People were leaving their homes, they were leaving everything they had known and loved behind. Another heavy sigh left her lips as she wondered if she was strong enough to bear the guilt on her shoulders. “God, this would have never happened if I…” she muttered the words under her breath, without even realizing that she was speaking them out loud. Alexandra closed her eyes, the image of her father appearing from the black void, a look of satisfaction on his face. Her actions had started just what he wanted and she was sure that from somewhere in the fire pits of hell, he was laughing at her.

His eyes still shut Sam felt Alex speak on top of him her hand off to the side of his body and the bed under him. ”It’s the most we can do for now, seeing as everyone who can do anything about it is in a panicked state of mind or fleeing the country…” Sam trailed off his eyebrows inverting down ward as he started to think, yes he could do a quick fix and kill everyone but there was a lot of problems with that.

The first being, which was he was breaking his promise to Ghost and seeing that he had become close friends with her he didn’t want to really break a promise to her. The next problem with killing everyone in charge of the camps was that they weren’t the end, if he and his team had killed anyone someone would just rise up under them and this time have better reasons to continue on with the camps. Shaking the thought of mass murder out of his head trying not to revert back to the old Sam the current Sam gave a weak smile to Alex as she continued speaking.

Her words again made sense, they were there to help but how far was to far, he was after all a stranger, him and everyone on the team, and being strangers to this land meant once this mess was over they would pick up and go else where, and if they didn’t do the job right here it would only be more of a mess after they leave. Sighing into Alex who was hovering over him Sam frowned and then spoke, ”That’s what wer are trying to do Alex, the only problem is we need someone that can run the show once the team moves elsewhere, we upturn all this dirt and just move on without helping to plant the structures they need, things just go back to the way things were…”

Her next thought caused Sam’s eyes to open, icy blues looked up to hers as his eye brow raised, ”If you what?” Sam asked curiously his hand stretching to the one she was using as a base to hold her self up while he placed his other around her waist pulling her down to his level.

Her eyebrows moved to form a frown as she opened her eyes looking at Sam with confusion. Did she actually let that thought to be verbalized? Alexandra blinked, as one of his hands reached hers, the other wrapping itself around her waist. She didn’t resist the pull, not at all, just slowed down the fall. Locks of brown hair fell around her confused face as it stopped only a mere inch away from Sam’s.

The tips of their noses touched, the warmness of each of his breaths could be felt as she continued to stare into his curious eyes. That curiosity proved her one thing. Sam or any of the other X-Men had no idea about the start of the second Registration Act. “Nothing…” Her voice came out as a weak whisper. Closing her eyes, she let her forehead rest on his, a tired sigh leaving her lips as soon as their skins made contact.