Came from me reading far too many Fanfic of a de-aged Charles so I have decided to try to write one of my own. Hope you enjoy :)

The explosion that ran through the mansion, causing the whole place to shake, came from the lab. Alex and Sean, ignoring the yells from the children, ran down the stars were they knew Hank and the Professor had been. Hank met them as they entered the now destroyed lab, looking a little dazed though mostly unhurt, although the edges of his blue fur where singed slightly.

"What happened?" Alex asked just as Sean asked, "Where's the Professor?" Hank didn't have chance to answer as part of the ceiling collapsed in on itself and the three mutants were forced to jump backwards, coughing as the dust entered their lungs. Without saying anything, the three ducked under the debris in search of Charles.

They found the chair abandoned in the middle of the lab next to the blackened lab table. "Professor?" Alex shouted, not a little apprehensive. Charles wouldn't have gotten far without the wheelchair but none of them could see him.

"Where…." Sean trailed off when he noticed one of the Professors' shoes. Frowning, the youngest of the three walked over to it and picked it up. "What happened?" Hank only shrugged, completely confused now as to what might have happened to Charles.

Seeing that the shoe was by one of over-turned lab tables that had managed to end up leaning against the wall, Hank pushed the table away not expecting to find what he did hiding in the small space between wall and table.

A small boy no more than 5 years old was curled up in a ball wearing over-sized clothes that Hank was almost positive he had seen on Charles just before the accident. The boy had floppy brown hair that might have been a little long and when he looked up at the three mutants they saw he had the same bright blue eyes as the Professor, except these eyes were welling with tears. "Hey, what's your name?" Sean said, kneeling in front of the child. Hank had backed away not wanting to frighten the boy.

"Charles." The boy stated a little quietly, making the three mutants share a look. Or rather Alex and Sean to frown at Hank and Hank to look both confused and a little embarrassed. "What…" Charles trailed off as his gaze surveyed the room, looking completely lost and not a little scared.

Without thinking, Sean picked up the de-aged Professor who panicked a little in the grasp before quietening down and allowed Sean to carry him up the stairs. The school had only just opened so there weren't many pupils actually in the building so the three were able to make their way into one of the un-used rooms without meeting anyone else. Alex and Sean had checked to make sure the younger children were all alright before going down to the lab and knew they were so had left them in one of the rooms upstairs.

"How old are you Charles?" Alex asked after Sean had placed the de-aged Professor into a chair. He was still a little in shock at seeing Charles like this but had gotten used to hiding those sort of feelings around the younger kids and figured the young Charles didn't need to know about how they were really feeling. Which brought about the question of if Charles still had his powers or not and Alex really hoped he didn't because a kid with telepathy could not be a good thing.

"5. Who are you?" Charles asked, his wide blue eyes looking at the three accusingly as if they didn't have any place in his home.

"I'm Sean and this is Alex and Hank." Sean said, meeting the accusing gaze of the 5 year old.

"You're blue." Hank started a little at that but relaxed when he saw the grin spread over the small Charles' face. "Why?"

It would seem that even as a child the Professor was still inquisitive about nearly everything. "It's a mutation."

"Mutation?" Charles asked, frowning as he came to grips with the word. "My Father worked with mutation." The young boy trailed off then, a sad look crossing his eyes.

"Well, we're all mutants here." Sean said, wanting to cheer the young child up. Charles went to open his mouth to say something when a large bang came from down the hall and a moment later Logan walked through the doors.

Logan had been staying at the mansion ever since what happened with Trask and while the three of them were still getting used to the brisk behaviour of the older mutant, Charles had managed to calm the older man considerably. Something that Hank had put down to the other mutant coming from the future. Or rather a version of it that hopefully didn't exist anymore. "What the hell happened?" Logan growled upon seeing the young child dressed still in adult clothing.

"We…well we don't still don't really know." Alex's statement caused Hank to blush and Logan to glare at him, obviously not happy.

Charles seemed to not like the silence as the 5 year old suddenly jumped from the chair and walked over to Logan, not flinching in the slightest when Logan's gaze flicked to him. "I'm Charles Xavier, nice to meet you." For a 5 year old the kid had excellent manners and for a moment Logan was taken aback before the name registered.

Giving the other's a look that clearly said they'd be talking about this, Logan bent down to look at the kid, his own hard gaze meeting the friendly gaze of Charles Xavier. "I'm Logan." Charles smiled up at him.

"I'm gonna go see if we can find any children clothes." Sean suddenly said as Logan raised himself up. "Coming Charles?" The young boy seemed torn for a minute but the he grabbed onto Sean's hand and followed, having decided to just go with the flow of the situation for a while.

"I'll go and check on the children." Alex bolted from the room then, feeling not in the slightest bit guilty about leaving Hank with an angry Logan. Then again it was Hank's fault that the Professor was no longer…well the Professor.

"What happened?" Logan growled, earning a guilty look from Hank who was still trying to figure it out himself.

"There was an accident in the lab, we were doing some tests on…"

"I don't need the lecture." Logan interrupted.

"Right, sorry. Erm, we were doing tests and there was some kind of explosion and there was this gas and Charles, I think, might have inhaled it but I didn't think it would have that kind of reaction and…"

"Can you fix it?" Logan interrupted the scientists nervous talking.

"I don't know." Hank replied because, truthfully, he had no idea what had even caused it.

…..

It was Alex who found some clothes for the young child, taking them from some of the younger children's wardrobe. Even then the clothes were a little big and loose but it really was the best they could do at that moment. Charles seemed happy enough with the new pants, actually an old pair of three-quarter length ones of Scott that still dragged on the floor though fit well enough around the waist when Charles was wearing a belt.

Alex had told the younger children to go outside and play, hoping to hide the fact that the Professor was now 5 year old from them. What he hadn't banked on was Jean picking up the worried thoughts running through his head and shouting it out at him. He'd then had to explain what had happened, though thankfully the children had taken it well enough, even wanting to bring the young Charles out to play with them. Alex had declined, not knowing if that was such a good idea or not considering the age difference. The youngest child in the mansion was 8, that being Jean and Charles was small for a 5 year old. There was also the point that the Professor might not appreciate it when he came back.

Charles was now curled up in a chair, reading from a book that Sean didn't think was suitable for a 5 year old but he wasn't about to stop him. "What are we going to do?" Alex whispered, in a desperate attempt not to let Charles hear him.

When Charles didn't look like he heard, Sean answered. "I don't know. Hank will find a way to reverse it."

"And until then?" Alex asked, looking a little scared as his gaze shifted to the 5 year old. Neither of them said anything about Hank not being able to reverse it because, while they teased the scientist, they knew he would be able to. And they didn't want to think of Charles like this forever.

"We keep an eye on him." Sean replied, not knowing what else to say. Honestly, Sean though Chares was quite a calm 5 year old and he hadn't even cried or anything since finding him like this, the near tears in the lab being the only occasion. "And he doesn't really seem like he'll be that much trouble." Both looked over at the 5 year old reading in the corner and Alex found himself agreeing with Sean on that statement. As eerie as it was to see the Professor as a child, he couldn't help but be very grateful it was Charles because if this had happened to anyone else then who knows what might just happen.

…

"Where's Mother?" Charles small voice appeared from behind Logan, making the bigger man start a little. Alex and Sean had decided to take the other children out of the mansion for a while so to give them some time to figure out what to do while Hank had gone down to the lab. Logan had almost forgotten Charles was still here, and a 5 year old, until the child had wandered into the living room.

"She's away." Logan expected Charles to ask more but the 5 year old seemed to accept this answer and instead climbed onto the armchair opposite Logan. It was almost comical to watch the 5 year old attempt to get onto the tall chair. When Charles was finally seated properly, Logan's silent laughter quickly turned to that of worry. What the hell was he meant to do with a kid?

"I wish Mother didn't have to go away all the time." Charles murmured and Logan panicked at the sad look in the child's eyes. He didn't need a crying child to deal with. He toyed with calling Hank up when Charles quickly composed himself and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that. Mother says' I'm not to complain." Charles did a good impression of acting grown-up but Logan could tell that the 5 year old was still a little upset.

Most of the time, Logan would ignore this but instead he found himself saying, "Why does your Mother go away all the time?"

Charles looked up in surprise, obviously not expecting the bigger man to ask something like that. Logan was starting to wonder what kind of childhood the Professor had had. "She doesn't like it here anymore after Dad died." Logan didn't know what to say to that, especially when Charles turned those huge sad blue eyes on him. "Sorry, I don't mean to…"

Don't apologise." Logan might have said that a little too gruffly as Charles shrank away from him. "Sorry bud." The older man said, quickly reassuring the child. He wasn't used to this but it seemed Charles had accepted the apology as he soon smiled at him, albeit a little hesitantly. "Want me to read to ya?"

Charles looked a little shocked at the question but soon nodded, jumping from the chair and handing Logan the book. It definitely wasn't a children's book and Logan couldn't halo the laugh as he read a little of the book. Genetics. Figured the Professor would be just as nerdy as a child as he was in older form.

…

Alex and Sean returned with the children in tow just before dinner and Logan was almost a little sorry to stop looking after the kid. Though he'd never admit it and Charles looked infinitely happy at seeing the other children. Figured he wouldn't have spent much time around children growing up, what with the mansion being literally in the middle of nowhere.

Thankfully, the children seemed to have understood what had happened to Charles and while they were overly curious, asking a million questions of the 5 year old, they didn't mention anything about him not really meant to be 5 years old. Charles was a little hesitant at first but Scott, Jean and Ororo quickly dragged them along with them and Logan couldn't help but worry about how much those three could corrupt the young child.

Dinner was an interesting affair, the children still fawning over Charles and at one point Ororo had to be physically stopped from feeding the 5 year old as if he were a baby. Charles didn't seem to mind it, actually grinning happily at the attention. In Alex's opinion the young child didn't seem to get enough attention from his family as the children's' attention was met as if it were completely foreign.

Hank was still in the lab by the time Alex and Sean decided Charles should go to bed. It was nearing 8 and while they had no idea how to look after a 5 year old they guessed that 8 was an appropriate bed time.

They'd thought making Charles go to bed would have been difficult but when they came into the room they'd last seen the children in, Jean said that Charles had already gone to bed. Alex and Sean both frowned as they made their way to the Professors' bedroom, hoping that would be where the child would have gone as they didn't really want to search the whole mansion.

They were right as they found Charles standing in front of the bed, confusion plain on his face. As Alex looked around the room he quickly realised why. The room was that of the Professor as they knew him, not of a 5 year old. "Pyjamas'?" Sean asked, holding up another set of old clothes he'd scavenged from the children.

"Thank you." Charles said, taking them and disappearing into the adjoining bathroom. He looked surprised to find them still standing there when he got back and even more surprised when Sean helped him into the large bed. "There used to be a stool but…"

"We'll see if we can't find it tomorrow and all your stuff okay?" Charles nodded and Sean was seriously surprised that Charles didn't ask why it wasn't all in his room now. "You need anything?"

"Could you leave the lamp on?" Charles asked a little shyly as the older mutants nodded their heads and left the room. Neither said anything as they made their way down the stairs, both thinking the same thing. Charles had obviously not expected them to put him to bed and if they hadn't they could guess Charles would have ended up sleeping on the floor rather than ask for help getting into the too-tall bed.

"We are not leaving him alone again." Alex stated as they got down the stairs and Sean nodded in agreement. Charles would not be left alone while they were here like he so obviously had when a child with his family.

Hope you enjoyed and please review :)