Watch at the Mansion was hardly the most interesting assignment on the X-roster. Actually, it ranked as probably the most boring. Cafas eased back onto the cold, hard shingles of the roof, sore muscles and bruised ribs aching in protest, shirt dampening from what was left f the snow he'd cleared. He let his gaze drift up from the lawn and drive into the sky, the lack of stars in the clear sky sinking his heart.

Trust Sam to put me on watch the night I get back to town.

"It's amazing how quickly you come to take things for granted." He'd lived in New York City for the best part of a decade. He'd seen the same night sky every night, the same limited stars shining their way through smog and light pollution. In that time he'd almost forgotten what it was to see the sky blanketed in a billion brilliant points of light. The rare times he went out, away from the light of civilisation, he had the same overawed reaction to the diamond tapestry. A few weeks out of New York, however, and the awe had faded until the sight of a night sky full of starlight was entirely normal to him.

Only now that they were gone again did he fully appreciate the beauty they had brought to his life. He sighed and shifted, drawing more protest from his back. The pain was barely worth the tiny grunt it forced out of him. The big X-man rolled his eyes at himself. One pick up jump was all he'd had to survive, and production was wrapped. Just one jump without falling flat on his back off a motorcycle.

Who's idea was putting me in action movies?

Cafas sighed and rolled onto his side, legs pushing against the roof to stop him sliding down and over the drain to the ground. His eyes fell on a woman whose code-name became more appropriate by the day, and his heart swelled and broke in equal measure, just like it had at the airport. Weeks away had thrown in stark light how quickly she was fading, something the day to day changes didn't do justice to.

"So how've you been?" He asked, not for the first time, but certainly the first with such earnestness. Pleasantries were all well and good with others around, but the others were long asleep.

Vest? Check. Puffy coat? Check. Gloves, hat, scarf, socks, legwarmers, shoes, and leggings on underneath her skirt? Check. She even had a hot drink in hand despite the lack of new snow on the ground.

She felt cold. It didn't matter that the sensation might be an illusion brought on by the things they'd been trying to help her get some feeling back into her system. She felt it. That was a win.

Cafas was waxing philosophical tonight and the best Maya could come up with was "Yeah." Because he was here. Anything that happened in his absence was washed away by the balm of proximity. She was practically giddy, though she did at least try to play it cool.

> "So how've you been?"

"Oh you know." She shrugged, cool-like, and was rewarded with the sound of her jacket sliding against itself. She was a stay-puft poster child up here on the roof. This may have been the first time she'd bothered with a coat since she came to New York. At all. Ever. "Making trouble. Taking up bad habits. Hanging out with the cool kids in all the wrong places."

Oh crap. That was what she'd been doing and that was not at all what he asked. Flustered, Maya tucked an ear back under her hat and tugged it down. So much for cool. "I'm okay. You know I went to see Simon and all." It wasn't like they hadn't talked at all since he'd been working. Communications had just been sparse. "If I had to give a number? Upper forties percent-wise." So, the visuals still weren't there, but at least she wasn't losing her clothes any more in the not-fun way.

"Did your, er, hair make any waves? Are you still sore? How long does post-production take? Were there any other mutants on set? What about-" The floodgates were open.

He did know, not that he'd admit it anywhere else. Cafas shifted again as a silent chuckle pushed a shingle corner into his ribs. It was no use, but he could try. That hadn't been what he'd asked though. A light poke on the well rugged up thigh seemed to steer Maya back on course. Her face said she didn't need it, but he liked the contact.

Whose idea was this roof?

He did recall her caving and finally going to see her brother, though he'd forgotten since. Cafas could finally stop reminding her every time he remembered. By the sound of things it had been well worth it too, forty percent was pretty solid. It did very much throw off the numbers for their latest attempt at treatment though. It was a sacrifice he was willing to accept.

Maybe we should work in thousandths... If Maya could do thousandths would we even be in this predicament?

Maya's flurry of questions shook Cafas' mind off of experimental accuracy. Clearly the elemental was keen for a change of subject. He tried to keep track of all Maya said, but it didn't take long before the combination of recalling questions and formulating answers overwhelmed his jetlagged brain. Cafas pulled himself up the roof with numb fingers to reach Maya's lips, holding himself there for a few lingering seconds.

"Hold up," He laughed, resting his forehead on hers, "hard as this may be to believe I've only got so much room in this head." Publicist approved jeans resumed their frigid seat on the rooftop. "From the top, no pun intended, my hair was a point of contention." Cafas' eyes roved the colourless moonlit lawn again, futilely trying to pick out threats. His arm snaked around Maya' waist. "They did ask if I could grow it out natural, or shave it to make wigs easier, but as you can sense that didn't happen. My agent nearly pitched a fit over them even asking. Something about my trademark look. Attracted some comments from the guys on set, but nothing I couldn't handle." Not that he'd enjoyed it all. The stunt guys had been the worst, but that was just their way. It was give and take with them.

Bunch of adrenaline junkies, what would you expect?

"Yes I'm still pretty sore, but I'll see DocProf tomorrow." He ticked off the five fingers he had up as he went. "Uhm, wha, oh right, post, yeah. Hard to say, longer than production for sure. A year or more I'd guess. They'll pull me in to re-do lines soon enough, but that'll be L.A. not the middle of the desert, so you could come with." Though it was boring, and often hard to recapture how he'd done the line on set that particular take.

Maybe I'll take Rowan and Abbi on set next time.

The X-man frowned in concentration, chewing the inside of his cheek, looked down at his two raised fingers, then turned to Maya. "You said... What was next?" He really was quite tired, and he'd done a good bit of speaking. "M-mutants? That was it right? We had a couple. Just me and a flame guy that did anything that needed someone to be on fire as far as on screen talent. A few in the crew, not all with quite so job oriented mutations, though it's easy to see how we fall into that trap." He shrugged, casting his mind to the forge he'd left without fresh stock for too long. "We were a bit thin on the ground though, Utopia's led to a few issues here that I'm not sure people thought through. Lots quit to move, lots were fired on very shaky grounds that points to some tensions."

Cafas was at a total loss as to what question his thumb had been. He'd known, but it had floated off amid the memories of filming he'd been mustering. The under-dressed X-man held it up to Maya with an inquiring look, vaguely aware of a sound on the periphery of his hearing, and his own light shivering.

Scribble, scrabble, scrabble.

Cafas held his thumb up and looked so lost that Maya took mercy on him and planted a kiss on the pad of that thumb. "Doesn't matter." So she pulled his hand around the warm tumbler. "Here. This was supposed to be for you anyway." Ginseng green tea, no sugar. Since he seemed to be off coffee for whatever reason.

Shhheeehhhhh.

The sound was quiet, a just barely audible scraping sound from the girl's wing. Maya couldn't "see" that far, but she'd done this shift enough times that the sound of someone trying to sneak out was pretty familiar.

"I'll take this one. Drink up." She slipped out of his arm and stepped lightly despite the shoes.

Maya didn't hesitate to hop off the edge of the building, though she didn't go incorporeal as she might have before. The wind kicked up to support her weight and rattled through the open window.

The little chat she had with a wide-eyed junior who was wearing more eye liner than clothing didn't take long. The girl was, of course, allowed to leave if she wanted, but Maya presented her options and encouraged her to make a good choice. Maybe it was the elemental at her window and the fact that girl's hair was now the uncool kind of messy, but she decided to stay in. Or at least sneak out in a less obvious fashion.

Maya pushed herself back up to the roof and cut off the noisy wind as her arc came to a close and she landed on the uneven tiles. Her ankles wobbled; the shoes made her feel less stable. It was all so much messier than incorporeality.

"Where were we?"

"Thanks sweetheart." Cafas curled his free hand around the warm drink, the heat glowing into his fingers. Ginseng by the smell, Cafas had learned to appreciate herbal teas since coffee ninety nine. A sip sent the same heat radiating through his body, though not quite enough to counteract the NYC Winter's night.

>>"I'll take this one. Drink up."

Seeing as Maya was perfectly capable of flight, there would be no arguments from Cafas. "Don't take too long. The X-man's hand trailed down Maya's leg as she extricated herself from his arm. His eyes never left her as she walked calmly off the roof, a sudden flurry of snow from below where the wind had caught her. "That never gets old." Cafas smiled to himself, bringing his second hand around to share the warmth.

This outfit seemed like a better idea in Vegas.

With minimal effort and a grace that would always seem bizarre from a person of his size the X-man got to his feet and confidently strode to the edge of the roof to have a peek, the toes of his boots hanging over thin air on the slippery sloping roof. Another long draught of tea brought some much needed warmth back to his chilled chest. For all his peeking, there still wasn't much to see, Maya hanging outside a window on a supernatural gust, the snow bank built up against the building some twenty feet below, the empty lawn, footprints all through the snowy covering.

This calm can't last. Calms never do.

The growing sound of rushing wind alerted him to Maya's return well before she'd landed. Cafas turned to make sure everything was fine, offering a steadying hand and a smile born of far too long apart. She seemed relaxed, so it couldn't have been anything too drastic.

>>"Where were we?"

"I believe you were asking me about the shoot." He offered, stepping in close, voice low and intimate, eyes never slipping from hers. "Thanks again for the tea, you'd think I'd have thought to wear a jacket." For a brief moment he considered his options, a brief hesitation and chewed bottom lip, before wrapping his arms around his most wonderful girlfriend and pulling her tightly into his chest. "I have missed you so, so much. All of you. The kids are asleep though, so I guess that can wait til morning. Just us for now."

The shoot? Ah yes. Cameras and acting rather than bullets and blood. Funny how the X-men perspective had infected every corner of everything. "Would it be weird to go see it when it comes out?" Movie theaters were weird, but at least they were kind of anonymous once you got inside. Maybe he wouldn't get swamped if they were careful.

Movie premieres were not even on her radar. Celebrity, despite all her recent experience, was still a foreign way of thinking.

"You're welcome for the tea. I'm not surprised they put you on a plane without a jacket, though." Not when he put so much work into his arms and how they looked. Maya started to reach out to put a hand on one of those arms, but hesitated when Cafas hesitated. They shared a moment of awkwardness. Just the briefest of shyness to acknowledge they had a few days where they hadn't been as involved in each other's lives as they preferred to be. Then he used those arms to make that moment obsolete.

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't come home with another kid you feel responsible for." She teased him even as she accepted that feeling of safety that came with his warmth and smell and presence. Maya was actually glad to have him all to herself. The kids could get their share tomorrow. Today, for whatever time was left in it, she was feeling selfish.

"I missed you too." Maya bumped her forehead against his shoulder. "Somehow we muddled through without you, but just barely."

"Ha ha, smart-Aleck." Cafas smiled into Maya's hair, no bitterness in his voice. "Well I'm glad it wasn't too easy without me, selfishly." It made him feel useful in their lives. Worry played havoc on him sometimes that he may just be adding unnecessary stress. Evidence to the contrary did little to stop the thoughts popping up unbidden.

A shiver passed through his body as a whisper of winter wind added to the chill of his skin.

"And I think I might be able to wrangle a plus-one to the premiere if you like? I can introduce you to Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron if you like." Ignoring the very real possibility that Maya would fade long before the movie released. Was it a sign of confidence, or a dedication to live outside reality for a little while? The thought was pushed out quickly, which pointed far more to the latter.

Wonder when the publicity tours begin...

With, as ever, a final squeeze Cafas broke the hug, dropping his hands to hold Maya's waist, not wanting to be the one who stepped away. Tight shoulders were rolled, doing little to ease the ache there. Another gentle gust put some real ice into his body, and he finally caved, speaking through a chuckle and chattering teeth. "Okay, tough guy act aside, I'm freezing." The idea of central heating was almost too wonderful to pass up. Maybe a couch to cuddle on, though he knew that in reality they should be patrolling, and he had to put the safety of the Mansion above something as petty as hypothermia "I gotta warm up, feel like doing a perimeter loop? I feel like people would object to me running on the roof."

A mischievous idea was quickly calculated for risks. A grin spread across Cafas' face, and his heart rate jumped as preparatory adrenaline entered his system.

I might spend too much time among stuntmen and vigilantes.

"On that note," he said, reluctantly releasing Maya and stepping back, "Catch." With a wink, Cafas pitched sideways off the building, fall training lining him up feet first for the potential impact into snow.

That isn't going to help the cold.

"Tom Hardy? Is he a quarterback?" She had thought Cafas had been filming some kind of action war flick, not a football story. At least Maya knew Charlize Theron was a blonde woman.

Should Maya even ask if he'd had a love interest this time? It probably didn't matter... it just might change the tenor of some of the mail he got. And the fanfiction... It wasn't until Cafas shivered that Maya realized she'd let her power off its leash around them rather than keeping the cold wind diverted. Oops.

> "I feel like people would object to me running on the roof."

"Uh. Yeah. Speaking of running on the roof, there were squirrels roosting between the levels at the apartme-"

> "Catch."

"CAFAS!"

She lunged after him, as if she could catch him or hold him aloft with one arm, but he was gone. Maya lifted her arm and freight train of air wreathed in a spray of snow powder gusted up from beneath Cafas to slow his fall. Windows rattled and pinkermint hair swooshed, but she made sure to cut the theatrics once he was close enough to not break something.

Maya stepped off the roof and made a much less dramatic slow-fall to the ground.

She shook her head at him as fat flakes of the once sedentary snow wafted back down to earth. She wasn't mad, but it was far worse than running on the roof. The only difference being that it'd been her fault that half the Mansion was awake now, instead of his.

"That would have made a great Marilyn Monroe moment had you been in a kilt." But far, far colder.

And, before he got any other bright ideas Maya shouted. "Race you to the gate!" And since she was three paces closer to the front lawn, she had the advantage! Maya kicked up a fresh spray of snow and booked it.

Snow whipped painfully into Cafas' exposed face, lifted on a blast of air that put some hurricanes to shame. Perhaps a slight over reaction, it knocked Cafas out of control and threw his legs out from under him, depositing him on his back in the snow drift below. Freezing water soaked into his clothes but he hardly noticed, rolling down the short slope in a fit of laughter until he was stomach down on the level ground.

"Oh God, your face. You have no idea, it was all..." He contorted his face into a less than flattering caricature of shock and horror, trying to suck in air between words, facing away but knowing Maya could see regardless. With a tear dripping from the corner of one crinkled eye Cafas pushed himself onto all fours, fingers painfully cold and tipped red.

>>"That would have made a great Marilyn Monroe moment had you been in a kilt."

"Wishful thinking?" His voice was a touch too loud, amplified by the force of laughter.

The X-man still hadn't found his feet, body shaking too hard from laughter, when Maya laid a challenge on him and then took off like a dirty cheater. With his mirth still fading on his lips Cafas pushed off in pursuit, stumbling the first several yards before finding his footing, snow flinging up behind him as the first lights started appearing in windows behind them.

Oh no you don't...

Powerful strides closed the gap between them, perhaps slower than Cafas would have expected. The Pinkermint haired X-man stretched an arm out in front of him, hand grasping at Maya's waist. He found purchase after the second miss, wrapping the arm around Maya, dragging her close as he slowed his pace, gently pulling them both to the ground at a safe speed. He rolled out of the tackle, laughing again, and took off for the gate with snow still clinging to his clothes, calling "Cheats never prosper!" over his shoulder.

Yes. His laughter would be his downfall! Maybe she could do this!

Running came with the added benefit of getting Cafas' sleep deprived, poor volume control away from the children. Because it was totally his fault that lights were turning on in the Mansion windows and little eyes were pressing up against the window panes.

And it was exhilarating! She could feel the bite of cold on her cheeks and lungs and she could taste victory. She was maybe five running steps away from the gate when Maya lost her feet. She went waist first into Cafas' body and then both of them went down.

Cafas took the worst of it on himself. He always did that kind of thing. She disentangled enough to flop back onto the snow. Cafas got up and kicked up his own snow in his escape.

Maya wheezed for breath, but smiled. It was a good kind of wheeze. She could feel a crunch of snow in her hair and a slight sting in her nose from the run. She reached up to rub some warmth back into her frigid nose.

He was long gone. So she decided to make a snow angel.

"Psh. Who's cheating, cheater?" He'd pulled her off her feet for crying out loud!

Maya tried to step out without disturbing her masterpiece and she just had to laugh now that she was perceiving the result in context.

Cafas had landed and rolled away. It was one angel wearing split pants and one lumpy, grabby monster. "A remarkable likeness don't you think?" Were there lights out here? Yes. There had to be some by the gate for security. So he would see it too.

Cafas tagged the gate, bruised back still protesting the fall, and turned to see how far behind Maya was. Still on the ground was not the answer he'd been expecting, but she didn't look injured. As he watched she stood with exaggerated care and took a large step out of her snow-print. The big X-man took a few steps closer for a better look.

>> "A remarkable likeness don't you think?"

Cafas adopted a contemplative stance as if studying the deep meaning of a piece of art. It was a pose he'd never really had cause to use, but he'd seen it on film enough to approximate. The affected caricature of an accent came naturally. "Hmm, yes, you can truly feeeel the artist's existential angst, struggling to maintain her innocence, reflected by the snow angel, in a reality of overwhelming responsibility and seemingly endless pain, obviously the brutish figure we see here." He waved his hand foppishly at his own imprint.

That was almost convincing.

It was an act he could only keep up for so long, and a grin cracked through the serious set of his face, radiating outward from his eyes. "Come on artist extraordinaire, we should get on with this patrol." He offered his arm and waved the other towards the fence. "As the clear and fair," Cafas winked, "Winner of the race I say we go... Clockwise." Which of course made no difference. Cafas' mood darkened slightly as his mind turned back to the job at hand. "Suppose we should be on higher alert. You know, after Utopia."

She snortled.

It had started as a laugh and somehow ended up getting caught and transforming into an ugly and extra hilarious sound that simultaneously came out of her mouth and nose.

Which of course started a whole round of uncontrollable laughter that was far beyond what the joke deserved, but it was too late to go back now. Cafas' ego might inflate so much that it popped. So she tried to get a handle on herself.

Cafas offered his arm and Maya took it. She needed the support.

Clockwise it was~!

Maya took a few sobering breaths. Back to earth already? Maya tightened her grip on Cafas' arm. "Utopia was a misnomer." She shivered, cold through and through, but not from the chill of the night.

She had thought about taking her family there. Of retiring from all this. She hadn't broached the idea wit Cafas yet. What if she had? "Even if some of the X-men had been there, would things have been different?" That was a slippery slope.

"Did you see those reports that the X-jet was on scene? That's not real, right? I mean, I know it's been 'borrowed' before..."

Maya monitored the breezes in her radius without really testing each item they touched against. Nothing seemed to be moving so she didn't press for details.

Watching the laughter drain from Maya's face sent a wash of regret through Cafas, though the interlinked arms did provide some relief. He hadn't really thought before speaking, just a passing thought given voice. Still, it warranted some discussion. It wasn't every day someone wiped a city off the map, even one in its infancy. Maya posed questions with no easy answers as they started what would likely prove a frigid trudge around the fence-line.

"Always did seem naive and shortsighted at best, and I don't suppose we'd have been of great use. The few of us against a force that managed to neutralise, evacuate, and destroy a whole city?" He didn't see any way that happened without mutants and a hell of a lot of people. The crunch of their boots through the snow seemed deafening in the momentary silence. "Not sure I'd have even wanted to stop it." Further division was the last thing the world needed.

Not that most people can see it beyond their own aspirations...

Cafas straightened out a bent section of wrought iron fencing as it entered the periphery of his metal sense. It was almost habitual, fixing what he could. It kept his mind from shiver inducing cold leaching through his wet clothes. "As for the jet, we're not the only bird in the sky. I'll grant you that ours is a bit more advanced than most, but I can't imagine a weaponised, troop carrying, supersonic, VTOL, stealth jet escaped the notice of any world government. Bet they hacked that design out of a databank in no time flat." Which they almost certainly had. The X-men had borrowed a lot from them to start with though, so it seemed only fair.

"I mean, we certainly weren't involved, and I know we're independent of West Coast but surely they wouldn't have done that. Right? It seems a bit out of character." His voice carried confidence through slightly chattering teeth, more confidence than he felt. Still, if he believed in anything it was the X-men and their conviction to facilitate human/mutant peace and cooperation. Still, perhaps a misguided action? But no, there was no way they could have pulled off that attack.

A small metal disk floated up off the ground and through the snow to hang near head height.

Oh hey, a quarter.

"Why, you don't buy that do you?"

With a tiny thud the coin hit the snow again.

Right. Yes. All the residents had been mutants so surely someone had fought. Or resisted. Or something. Everyone in Utopia had a useful, extra tool at their disposal. "I mean, was there a census? Or any way to tell that everyone actually made it home? Nobody seems to be reported missing from what I've heard, but I know there are the unloved and rejected." That was what she was most afraid of... there had to be a reason. And it was probably something really sneaky, since no one seemed to have the whole picture.

Oh, man. The west coast X's. "I hadn't even thought of that."

Maya felt the rise and fall of a quarter while her mind was busy spinning conspiracy theories.

> "Why, you don't buy that do you?"

"I don't. I just... I want it to find the meaning of it all. For a minute there I felt like mutants were a part of a community, our own community. I don't think segregation, even self-segregation, is the answer, but... I mean... we're sort of a generation supplanted. At first it's illegal to be. Then it's not. But there's still all those people who remember how it was and think they're suffering for how it is now. I'm just heartbroken for all the kids who get kicked out. I'm glad we have sister schools like this one. It seems like it's the closest to utopia that we can get."

She shrugged and leaned her head onto Cafas' biceps. His freaking freezing cold biceps.

"Also, you'd better not get sick from running around sopping wet."

Huh...

Cafas hadn't even thought to question that no-one was missing. It was certainly a big assumption to make given the sheer numbers involved. It also seemed rather unlikely that someone would destroy Utopia just to destroy it. None of it really made sense though, did it? Perhaps the lack of casualties had been due to mutants on site, they did have that guy that linked the whole world to Antarctica after all.

"I think we may need to entertain the thought that Utopia was destroyed for the threat it represented by people that knew killing the mutants there was likely to cause a lot of problems." Cafas mused slowly aloud, trying not to get too caught up in the realm of conspiracy. It was all too easy to see the Bogeyman everywhere when you stated thinking too much, "And there's no denying that this was designed to stop us gathering in larger numbers. We've been lucky, if that word can be applied, here at the Mansion. I think someone is establishing the limit pretty clearly." Though why they let the project get off the ground in the first place seemed a perfectly valid question. Economic warfare perhaps.

Let us waste our resources...

"So I guess we just have to go back to doing what we have been. Being there for the ones with nowhere to go and pushing for the societal change that needs to happen." He would have shrugged, but he didn't want to disturb Maya. "And I won't get sick. Unless... Do you count hypothermia?" The X-man kept steadfastly ignoring his numb fingers and the way his shirt clung to his body like saran wrap. Surely he couldn't do any damage that DocProf couldn't undo.