Many thanks to all of you who've followed along with this story. I hope you'll enjoy this last chapter - and please let me know what you think!

They return to the school bereft, grief-stricken, one team member short, and it isn't until after they return that Charles fully realizes how damaging Stryker's raid on the school was. He hates himself for not being there when it happened - just as he hated himself, years ago, for not being there when Shaw attacked the CIA headquarters, murdered Darwin, and left Raven with a fear in her heart that she never fully recovered from.

There are so many repairs to be made to the school. There are bullets embedded in the expensive, wood-paneled walls - and looking at them, before he can help it, Charles wishes that Erik were here, to remove them all with one sweep of his hand. But he pushes the thought away immediately, with a wave of anger so intense that it almost makes him nauseous. Erik had tried to use him as a weapon of genocide. He'd tried to use Charles to wipe out every human on the planet - and he'd very nearly done it, too. How can Charles possibly still be wishing that he was here? How can he possibly still be thinking of that man as a friend?

God, he disgusts himself.

There's broken glass in Charles's study, in the kitchen, in almost every room on the ground floor and a few on the upper ones. Some patches of it are too big to step over, so Kurt volunteers to sweep it all up for them, since he can teleport from one side to the other without cutting his feet. As he pushes the broom through the shards, he shakes his head and mutters something in German. Charles thinks that he catches the word Kristallnacht.

The worst damage of all, though, is in the young, scared students who don't feel safe here anymore, who cry when Charles gently tells them that Dr. Grey won't be teaching them anymore. He almost wants to cry along with them. How to ever fix this mess?

To lift their spirits, Storm brings them weeks and weeks of perfect, sunny weather. It's a tremendous effort for her, Charles knows, to create such gorgeous days when she's so depressed over losing Jean, but she does it, and they all appreciate it. Jubilee and a few other students decide to take advantage of the sunshine to plant a flowerbed on the grounds near the main building of the school. Charles assumes that they're doing it to fill the time until classes start again - Scott isn't ready to start teaching again, and no one's ready to discuss who's going to take over Jean's classes - and it isn't until they're almost done with the project that he discovers that it has something to do with Jean.

One afternoon, Jubilee pats the earth down gently, then stands back and looks at the colorful blossoms. "That was the classroom that Dr. Grey always taught in," she says, gesturing to the nearest window. "She would've been able to look right outside and see these. She would've liked that, don't you think?"

Even when they don't realize it, the students are more of a comfort to Charles than he can say. He's grateful that Piotr was able to get away through the escape tunnels and lead so many of the younger ones to safety. They returned to the mansion at almost the same time that the team returned from Alkali Lake - a bit dirty and hungry, but none the worse for wear. "It was kinda fun, like a camping trip," Harry had said.

The raid on the mansion was terrible, but certainly, it could've been much worse. It frightens Charles to think that once, he hadn't even believed those escape tunnels were necessary. Erik was the one who'd convinced him to add them, shortly after they arrived at the mansion after Shaw destroyed the CIA headquarters. He'd drawn up plans and didn't give Charles a moment's peace until he agreed to have them built. "You need to have wiring put in, too," Erik had told him. "You'll need lights in there to see by. They'll come at night."

His tone as he said those words - They'll come at night - was so ominous and grim that it sent a shudder down Charles's spine. "What do you mean?" he'd asked naively, his skin prickling.

"They'll come at night," Erik repeated, his voice even darker. "Like when they emptied the ghetto."

So Erik had been right all along - about that, at least. Stryker and his men had come at night.

Charles feels fairly caught off-guard when Scott barges into his study one afternoon. Charles knows him well enough to tell that he's just been crying, even without having to see his eyes, and even though Scott looks angry, not sad.

"And just what the hell has Magneto lost?" he asks furiously, spitting the words out as if they're poison, as soon as he enters the room. This is the first time that he's set foot in Charles's study since before Alkali Lake. Since they returned to the mansion, Scott has mostly gravitated between his room, the kitchen, and the garage, where he spends hours burying his emotions in the cars, sometimes removing the same engine part and putting it back in over and over. He's barely spoken to Charles, or Storm, or the students.

Charles lays his pen down on his desk. He's grateful that Scott seems to finally be getting some of his emotions out, but he's careful not to show it. "Scott, you know I - " he begins.

"You said there'd been casualties," Scott interrupts, his voice rising. He waves his arms around a bit as he goes on. "When we were at the White House. You said there'd been losses on both sides. Well, I'd like to know what casualties there've been on Magneto's side! Just what the fuck has he lost in all this?"

Me, Charles very nearly answers, but he bites back the word.

"He hasn't lost a goddamn thing," Scott grounds out, before Charles can say a word. He clenches his fists, as if resisting the urge to pick up a paperweight from Charles's desk and hurl it through the window. "He left that base with Mystique and John, and he didn't lose anyone! And we had to come back here like this - like fucking this!"

Charles has never heard Scott swear so much. "I don't - " he starts to say, but Scott interrupts him again.

"I just don't know what the hell she was thinking," Scott says, his voice quieter now. He turns sharply away from Charles and glares out the window, but he doesn't see the grounds of the mansion. Instead, he sees Jean in front of the jet on Alkali Lake, her arms raised, as if she were conducting an orchestra, as the high walls of cold water roar all around her. "Why would she do that? Why wouldn't she listen to me when I told her not to?"

There's much damage, so many repairs to be made.

Scott is quiet for a moment, but Charles doesn't try to say anything this time. He senses that what Scott really needs is for him to just listen. Sure enough, Scott's anger soon deflates a bit, and he walks back across the study, sighs, and sits down hard in the chair opposite Charles's desk.

"Sorry, Professor," he mumbles, hanging his head. "I didn't mean to sound angry at you. just... I can't..." He tries to go on, but his voice trembles too much and he falls silent again.

Charles reaches one hand across his desk and touches Scott's arm. He moves slowly, carefully, concerned that Scott might get up and start yelling again. Some people, men especially, can never allow themselves to be comforted. Erik certainly never had. But Scott, thank God, isn't like that. When Charles touches his arm, he can actually feel some of the tension leave Scott's body - and for the first time since Jean's death, he feels a glimmer of hope that they can heal from it.

FIN