There was an uproar when Ruth asked if Atticus could sleep over.

"My friend Lionel slept over all the time," she reasoned, looking up at the shellshocked adults. "It was fun."

Ms. Maximoff sighed, looking down at fifteen year old. "Yes, Ruth, but that's different, you know? You're older now and Atticus is seventeen. And a boy."

Ruth frowned. "What does it matter if he's a boy? Just because he's a boy doesn't mean he's automatically dangerous. That's not fair to him."

"And her boyfriend is seventeen and a boy," Atticus added, raising his hand.

Atticus' mother sighed, taking a long drag of her cigarette. "Why do you want him to sleep over, honey? Because I'm fine with it as long as you aren't going to...you know."

Ruth sighed. "It's important. I might be able to move back to the mansion if we figure this out." She turned to Atticus and mouthed, 'He's not my boyfriend.'

Ms. Withers, the next door neighbor, sniffed. "I think it's quite improper." The other members of her book club, who were just starting to head home, nodded and tittered in agreement.

Ms. Maximoff sighed, looking at Ruth's pleading eyes. "Well...it doesn't matter what you think, Virginia. Atticus, you can sleep over if you'd like."

Atticus cheered, pumping his fist into the air. "Yes! I'm gonna go get snacks." He ran into his house, his mother following, rolling her eyes, dropping her cigarette and stepping on it.

"Thank you, Ms. Maximoff," Ruth said, looking up.

Ms. Maximoff wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Sure. I used to let Peter do whatever he wanted because I knew I couldn't stop him. Sometimes I wish I had tried to stop him, but I know it's for the best. I trust you."

Ruth grinned up ran towards their house—Ms. Maximoff's house—and grabbed some snacks of her own, throwing them down into the basement. She wondered if Peter was ever like that.

Ms. Maximoff stood, hovering in the door, watching the little girl zip around the room. It was almost like having a child back in the house. Except the child wasn't hers.

º º º º º

Scott rummaged through the fridge, not looking for anything in particular.

"Scott..." Jean said, out loud, "Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "No."

She walked over to him, taking his hand. "It'll be okay. I miss her too."

He sighed, closing the fridge. "It's all my fault."

She frowned. "How could any of this possibly be your fault?"

He frowned, pulling his hand away. "I was the one that got her mad. If she wasn't mad, she wouldn't have been up there. If she wasn't mad or up there, she wouldn't have tried to hurt Alex and she wouldn't have set fire to the school. If I hadn't gotten her mad, none of this would've happened and we would probably be all in the mall right now watching Kurt flirt with people!"

Jean put her hands on his shoulders. "Peace, good Mercutio, peace." Scott laughed slightly, despite himself. She smiled. "There we go. Scott. Nothing that happened was your fault, okay? Don't blame yourself for that."

He sighed, dropping his head. "They're calling her a freak too. Why does everyone do that, we're all here because people think we're freaks, there's no hierarchy! When they did it to you, God..."

"They don't say that about me anymore," she said, rubbing his arms, "It's okay."

He frowned. "She's not a freak. She's not anything they say, she's not!"

She tightened her grip on his arms. "I know she's not, Scott, of all people, you should know that I know that. She thinks about that friend of hers, Lionel. It's kind of sad how much she thinks about him. I wonder what happened to him."

"Maybe when they discovered she was a mutant, they cut off all communication with her," he offered, moving towards the fridge again.

Jean shook her head. "No, that doesn't make sense. From what I gathered, their families were so close and they understood what it felt to be ostracized. They wouldn't have pushed her away because of that."

Scott sighed, grabbing a coca cola. "Then what?"

She worried on her lip. "I don't know yet. Come on. Finish that up, we have to get to the danger room soon."

Scott nodded, following her out. They were always in the danger room, it seemed.

º º º º º

Atticus was pacing around the room, Ruth watching him from the bed. "I have reason to the believe he's at the lab."

She frowned. "The lab is in California. I know it takes time to get there, but you'd think he'd be there by now. The battle was six months ago, you'd think he'd be there by now. Why do you think he'd even be there?"

He pointed at her. "I've been thinking about that. But think about it. He was badly injured in the battle. Now, let's assume he took a plane, right? Well, it's hard enough to get back into the country, so he'd probably have to use his connections. His wings, are nowhere near healed. He has nowhere to go. Except, his father's lab."

"Where they experimented on mutants. And probably killed them," she added. Their theory had a good number of plot holes.

He snapped. "Yes. But I'm sure he'd find a way. He would probably wait to heal a bit first, regain some energy. So he's probably hiding out near there. We don't have to work out everything right now, all we know is we have a solid lead!"

She sighed. "I mean...we know where the lab is, so we can save the mutants that they might still be experimenting on. I don't know about Warren being there, though..."

Atticus bent down so he was looking Ruth in the eye. "Ruth. You just have to trust me, okay? I can't explain it, but I know the guy you're looking for is there."

She frowned. "Why are you interested in helping me? Why do you care so much?"

He frowned, fidgeting, not looking at her. "Because...because I know what's it's like to be abandoned. And I hate the feeling. And this guy was abandoned, you were abandoned and..." he sighed, rubbing his eyes, "I had a brother."

She sat up. "Really?"

He nodded, sniffing. "Yeah. His name was Jem. My dad was a literature buff, don't mock me. Anyways, Jem...he, um...he was taken by this guy? He was able to walk through walls and stuff, it was so cool. So, the guy comes and takes him away, said Jem was gonna do great things for the world. He asked me if I could do stuff, but I was, like, five at the time, so my mutation hadn't manifested yet. I never saw Jem again, but I know what happened. I know."

Ruth put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Atticus."

He nodded, wiping his eyes. "'s okay. We've all pretty much moved on. My parents actually sold him, pretty much, they got paid to give him up. Point is, I want to help you find this guy. And destroy that lab."

She rubbed his back, nodding. "Okay. Okay, we'll head to the mansion tomorrow."

He grinned. "Road trip!"

º º º º º

"You should tell him, Peter," Charles said, sitting across from the boy—the man. "He is here now and he won't be leaving. Especially not if he knows who you are."

Peter shook his head and Charles wondered if he shook it more times than could actually be seen. "No, way, Prof, I can't. I-I just can't."

Charles gave him a sympathetic look, the kind that only Charles could make. "He has no family anymore, Peter. He has us, of course, but by blood, no family exists for him. They've all been taken away."

Peter frowned. "I'm here."

Charles nodded, smiling. "Yes. Yes, you are! And it's such a wonderful thing that you are here, Peter. But Erik does not know that. Imagine how ecstatic he would be if he found out."

Peter frowned. "No."

Charles softened. "Peter...what are you afraid of?"

Peter bit his lip. "He kept that little girl."

Charles leaned forward. "What do you mean?"

Peter lifted his head, trying to blink back tears. "He kept that little girl. But he left me. He left my mom. She had to deal with me for twenty-seven years! By herself! With all her stupid-ass boyfriends that couldn't do shit! While he went off doing whatever he wanted!"

Charles moved forward, placing a hand on his arm. "Peter..."

Peter took a deep breath, soaking in the calming thoughts and feelings that Charles was trying to send him. "It's not fair."

Charles rubbed his arm. "I know. Peter, I am so, so sorry. Just think about it, please. It could be good for both of you."

Peter sniffed, sighing. "I'll try."

Charles smiled. "That's all anyone ever needs."

º º º º º

Ruth was packed in an hour. Ms. Maximoff had taken her shopping at one point, but they were still able to fit into her one suitcase with ease.

"You're going back," Ms. Maximoff said. Ruth jumped, not hearing her walk in. She looked at Atticus who was still lying down, then nodded. Ms. Maximoff smiled sadly. "Alright, then. Want me to drive you?"

Ruth shook her head. "No, it's okay. You have work, don't you?" She paused, remembering who she was talking to. "Unless you'd like to. I mean...you'd see Peter again."

Her smile was heartbreaking. "I don't think I'm ready for that. Besides, you said you don't know who his father is, I think it's best I don't see him until everything is sorted out."

Ruth didn't know what she meant by that. Nonetheless, she nodded. "Okay." She paused for a moment, then surged forward, wrapping her arms around the woman. "Thank you for letting me stay here. And for the clothes. And for everything else."

Ms. Maximoff hugged her, stroking her hair. "Of course, honey. You're welcome here anytime, remember that."

Ruth looked up and smiled, feeling tears prick the corners of her eyes. "Thank you. And," she sighed, "Thanks for being my mom for a few weeks. I haven't had one in a while."

Ms. Maximoff pulled her closer. "Thank you for telling me about my son. I forgot I missed him so much."

Ruth sighed, content with her goodbye, and pulled away, smiling up at her. "I have to go now. This won't be the last time you see me."

Ms. Maximoff smiled, leading her up the stairs. "I'll hold you to that."

Atticus groaned, carrying Ruth's luggage up the stairs. "You better promise me that too."

Ruth laughed and walked towards the front door, holding it open for Atticus. She looked up at Ms. Maximoff. "I'll mention everything you did to Peter. He hasn't forgotten you and I want him to know you haven't forgotten him."

Ms. Maximoff put a hand over her mouth, crying. "Thank you."

Ruth smiled and walked towards the car. It was time to go home.

º º º º º

It was dark out when Kurt and Scott decided to lounge in the living room. The two were sprawled on the sofa, each reading their own books. Kurt was lounging, reading leisurely whereas Scott was devouring his book, eyes racing over the pages.

"You two are kind of terrifying," Jubilee commented, walking in with Peter. Kurt mumbled something in German and Jubilee scoffed. "I mean that in the most loving way, of course." She patted Kurt on the head and sat in an armchair.

"You understand him?" Peter asked, sitting down.

She nodded. "Yeah! I just kind of picked it up. I know some Chinese, back when my parents were still around to talk to me."

Scott looked up at her, breaking his concentration. "You handle things really well."

She smiled. "How else am I supposed to stay calm?"

Scott hummed before going back to his book, reading slower, reducing his pace to one more like Kurt's. Peter and Jubilee looked at each other before rolling their eyes, smiling.

"Hi," Jean said, a stack of books in her hand. Ororo followed in a similar state. "Are we all studying?"

Peter shook his head. "These two are reading and Lee and I are just...chilling."

Jean and Ororo smiled, dropping their books on the table in the middle of the room. They sat on their knees and started to work, their heads bent in concentration.

If anyone walked in on them, they'd be want to take a picture of the group, everything about the scene being aesthetically pleasing to the eye. A picture of teenage life, mutant or not. It was a calming scene, everyone in the room content, but not stagnant.

After an indistinct amount of time, Jean lifted her head. "Someone's here."

The others all turned to look at her, perking up. "Who?"

A smile slowly formed, lighting her face like a slow flame. "Ruth."

The scramble to get out of the mansion was chaotic. Peter had made it out first, naturally, Jubilee sprinting close behind, trying to slow down an equally fast, if not faster, Ororo. Jean was sprinting behind them, stopping to keep things tidy. Kurt and Scott had fallen to the floor, trying to untangle their legs as they tried to reach the front door.

"Get off me, Kurt!" Scott grunted, shoving his taller friend. The blue mutant talked viciously in German, bamfing away once Scott was released. Scott scoffed. "You couldn't have just done that earlier?"

He ran out the door, tripping over the random things Jubilee had dropped in an attempt to slow down Ororo. He tripped down the stairs, cursing, falling to his knees on the ground. He ran to catch up to his friends who were stopped on the grass, staring at a car.

He neared Peter who whispered, "That's my mom's car."

Standing in front of the car was Ruth who was talking to a tall boy with messy hair. She had her suitcase in hand and was looking at him, pleading.

"Stay with us, Atticus, you'd love it here," she begged.

He shook his head. "I can't, Ruth, I have to get home. I can't just ditch my mom, my school."

"Your mom who's never home and your school that wouldn't care?" she snapped, raising an eyebrow. He flinched and she sighed. "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair. But can you at least stay to help explain what we found out? Please?"

He opened his mouth, then sighed heavily. "Fine. But just that, then I'm out of here. Okay?"

She cheered, jumping up and throwing her arms around his neck, her legs dangling. He lurched forward, choking. She pulled away, jumping up and down.

She turned to look at the group of people gathered in front of her. "What'd I miss?"

º º º º º

The entire group was gathered in Charles' office in under five minutes. Kurt had bamfed everyone in the office, Jean explaining everything as fast as she could. Charles alerted the adults and in a flash, everyone was rushing to greet their newly returned student.

"This place is so cool!" Atticus gushed, looking around the office.

"This is just an office, Atticus," Ruth said, letting herself be hugged to death by an excitable Alex Summers.

"Still!" Atticus squealed, bounding over to Kurt. "Dude, you are so cool! I love that thing you've got going with your hair."

Kurt ducked his head, smiling. "Thank you."

Atticus turned to Jubilee. "I'm Atticus, your jacket's cool. What can you do?"

Jubilee grinned and sent up a few colorful sparks. "I'm Jubilee and I shoot sparklers from my hands. I'm like a cheerleader, but cooler. Watch this." She started doing cartwheels and backflips, shooting sparks from her hands as she went.

"I didn't know you could do that!" Ruth cried, staring at the girl in awe.

Jubilee shrugged. "People like to underestimate me. I'm also really good at rollerblading and shoplifting," she looked at Charles who gave her a look. She laughed nervously. "But you didn't need to know that last part..."

"What's going on?"

Everyone turned to see Raven standing in the doorway, staring at Jubilee, then at Ruth. Everyone looked around at each other, daring the others to speak first.

"Hey, wait," Jubilee said, looking around, "Where'd Atticus go?"

"Uh, sorry," a voice said. Atticus reappeared from behind an armchair, "I got scared."

Jubilee gasped. "Whoa! Can you teleport like Kurt?"

Atticus shook his head, twiddling his fingers. "Uh, no, I, um..." he closed his eyes and disappeared into thin air. "I turn invisible. Pretty neat, huh?"

Jubilee laughed. "Uh, cheeuh! Ro, Jeanie, wasn't that the coolest thing ever?" She was practically shaking with excitement as she looked up at her friends.

Ororo shook her head. "Your little display with the flips is the coolest thing ever."

Jubilee giggled, cheeks turning pink. Ororo smiled down at her friend with an expression that Ruth was familiar with; it was the look Lionel had given Jubilee whenever he saw her at the mall.

Raven cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Again. What is going on?" She looked at Ruth. "Why are you back?"

Ruth waved her hands, stopping everyone from speaking all at once. "We know where Warren is and we know what his dad had done. You might want to hear this out because this is kind of important. Hank, you'll want to take notes."

º º º º º

Charles stared at Atticus, a hand over his mouth. He raised his hands, dropping them onto his lap. "Okay. Let's go to California."

Atticus grinned. "Really?" His smile dropped. "Wait. Is this one of those things where you say one thing, but really you mean the complete opposite?"

Erik shook his head, biting back a smile. "No. That's what I do, Charles doesn't have the capacity to do that."

Atticus leaned towards Ruth and whispered, "He looks like a shark."

Raven sighed. "I'm sorry, are we actually listening to this child? How do we even know he's telling the truth?"

Charles tapped his temple, then gestured towards the files on his desk. "We have enough evidence to back it up quite nicely, Raven."

She crossed her arms. "I meant about the lab. How do we know it's there? And furthermore, how do we know Warren is there?"

Charles sighed. "We don't. But Raven, this is enough reason for us to go. What if they are still experimenting, we have to save them, put a stop to their operations, something! We might even find where he is if we go."

Raven opened her mouth to argue, but Erik cut her off. "Listen to him, Raven. You know he won't give up."

She rounded on him. "Do you believe him? Do you think we should just drop everything and go to California?"

Erik nodded, placing a hand on Charles' shoulder. "I do."

Peter leaned over to Jubilee and whispered, "Sounds like they're getting married." Ruth giggled and covered her mouth.

Raven turned to Alex and Hank. "I'm guessing you're on his side too."

Hank nodded and Alex shrugged. "I'm affronted that you'd have to ask."

Kurt stepped forward. "Please, Mystique? This isn't just about Warren anymore. Please?"

Raven softened, looking at the other blue mutant. She turned to look at everyone else in the room. "Okay. We'll go save him. But," she held up a hand to stop them from cheering, "We don't go until you're ready." She looked at Ruth. "All of you."

º º º º º

Scott watched Ruth and Atticus from the doorway. He could hear their discussion, their voices being carried by the wind, but he pretended not to, for his sake more than theirs.

"Please stay," Ruth begged, "It's been so much fun hanging with you and I don't want you to just be stuck there."

"But I don't belong here, not yet," Atticus argued, "I won't be of help. You heard what that lady said, you all need to be ready. I'm not ready and she might use that against you."

She sighed. "So what, I'll never see you again?"

He scoffed, shaking his head. "What? No! The drive isn't that far, you could come visit."

Her shoulders drooped. "Okay. Promise you won't forget me?"

He grinned. "You're the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me, how could I forget you?"

She smiled and reached up. He bent down and she wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes. "See you soon, Atticus Finch."

He laughed. "See you soon, Ruth Dakin Bailey."

She pulled away and looked up at him, then at the car. She waved him towards her, as if to whisper in his ear. He bent down again, curious. She kissed his cheek, feeling the soft and pillowy texture.

He grinned and made his way to the drivers side of the car, waving. He rolled down the passenger window. "Tell your boyfriend I think his glasses are the shit."

She laughed and waved, walking back towards the mansion. She saw Scott and smiled, running up towards him. "Hi, Scotty."

He pulled her into a hug, burying his face in the crook of her neck. She yelped, wrapping her arms around his neck. He sighed, closing his eyes. "Don't ever leave again."

She laughed. "It's good to see you too, Scotty."

a/n ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 7, 2016 BUT UPDATED TO CHANGE THE GIF UP TOP 

3595 words...oh well, it's the reunion scene, it's okay. We're not nearing the end but...we're nearing the end.

I looked up some stuff about Jubilee (because I honestly really look up to her) and I saw that she used to shoplift with her best friend and they staged their getaways on their rollerblades which is amazing. She was also a really good gymnast, literally Olympic level good. So I figured I could mention that.

I'm quite fond of Atticus though not as a love interest for Ruth. Because no.

There will be a scene with Ruth and Raven. I just have to mention that. (Because I might forget). There will be many scenes...

UPDATE SCHEDULE: as many of you (if not all) are aware, I have been updating every day. I intend to do that unless the next chapter isn't ready. If you think I should spread them out more please say so because I just want to update in the best possible way for you all to read.

That's it, hope you enjoyed this ridiculously long chapter!