"Scott, do you want this plane to explode?"

Ruth glared at her boyfriend, trying not to scream. They were starting to back out of the hangar and she had mentioned she never liked the takeoff bit of the experience. Scott, being the loving boyfriend he was, tried to hold her hand. Her reaction was kind of dramatic.

"Ruth, what's going on?" Hank called, still backing out.

"Scott's trying to hold my hand and I'm probably going to kill everyone because I hate the takeoff of planes and Scott makes my hair burn."

She smacked Scott's hand away, ignoring the hurt look he gave her.

"You'll be fine," Alex said, looking at his nails, "Hank, share the data!"

Hank cleared his throat, maneuvering the plane around. "Ruth, I do see your point and I had observed some of your interactions with him because I too found the fluctuations of your mutation interesting.

"There is enough evidence to back my theory that your mutation reacting strangely is just your mutation.

"Your mutation is based off your emotions and Scott seems to bring up plenty of those. Your mutation just does what it's told. As we saw at the beginning, you seemed to get angry at Scott easily. I don't have all the information, but I can safely say you don't be blowing up planes today."

She sighed, looking around. "The fucker jinxed it, someone have wood we can knock on?"

Hank rolled his eyes. "Okay, everyone, I assume we all know the exits of the aircraft, there's one above us towards the back as well as one on the floor. Although, your first instinct should be grabbing onto Kurt who we have been prepping in the event of an emergency. Alright. Let's go!"

Ruth whimpered, closing her eyes as the plane started moving forward, slowly growing faster and faster.

"Hey, it's okay," Scott whispered, "We'll be okay."

Ruth laughed bitterly, her body stiff. "That line never works, you know it, Dexter."

He sighed and took her hand, squeezing it. "I know, but there's no harm in trying. Do you like climbing trees?"

She frowned, looking at him. "What?"

He shrugged. "You seem like the type to like climbing trees. I don't know what L.A.'s like, but I know it can't be all palm trees. You just seem like the type who climbed trees when you wanted to talk to people."

She thought back to all the times she and Lionel climbed the tree in his backyard to talk. That was why his parents built the tree house. It didn't stop them from climbing other trees, though. "Yeah, actually, I do. Why?"

He shrugged again. "We're going to your home town, city, whatever, and I thought you could give me a tour of where you liked to go. Jubilee's doing that too."

She thought back to her old life, where she and Lionel used to go, how many places they were kicked out of, where she was beat up. "Yeah, sure, I guess. I mean, Lionel and I didn't go to many places. We didn't like to go many places and we weren't always allowed in others."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "You must've been allowed some places. An ice cream parlor. What's your favorite ice cream."

Ruth faltered, feeling the plane jerk slightly. She thought for a moment. "There was this new flavor that came out last year, Cookies N' Cream. It's so good."

He smiled. "You'll have to show me your favorite ice cream place then. My favorite flavor's vanilla, so it's not that hard to find it around." Ruth laughed, the sound ringing through the plane. He frowned. "What?

She grinned at Peter who was also snickering, having heard the conversation. "It's just...vanilla. The most basic and boring of all flavors, that's what you pick as your favorite." She glanced at Peter and added, "Scotty, I love you and all, but now that I think about it, that is kind of fitting."

He scoffed. "Wow, okay, I feel loved."

Peter laughed. "Actually, I think strawberry's more fitting."

Ruth gasped. "You're right! Why not strawberry?"

"He's allergic to strawberry," Alex called down, "He nearly died when he was eight because of it. Ruth, by the way, we've finished taking off, so you can relax now."

Ruth stared at Scott who had a smug smile on his face. "You're a little shit. I don't know whether to hit you or thank you."

Scott shrugged. "The second one?"

º º º º º

Ruth shivered, looking up at the night sky. They had landed in a secluded hangar in L.A. in the dead of night, Hank making sure there was nothing incriminating in the plane and Erik making sure there was no way anyone could get into the hangar.

"Where are they?" Peter whined, looking around. Charles, Erik, and Kurt had gone ahead to the hotel and had been gone for an hour.

"I'm here."

They all turned to see Kurt standing there, smiling. He held his hands out, taking hold of Ororo and Jubilee, bamfing away. He appeared two minutes later, taking hold of Peter and Jean. Then Scott and Ruth.

Ruth shuddered, still unused to being bamfed around, and looked around. They were in front of a fancy looking hotel, hidden in the shrubbery. She took Scott's hand and walked towards Peter who was waving them over.

Hank and Alex followed a few minutes later with their bags, Kurt in his camouflaged state coming in moments later.

The woman at the desk gave the group an odd look. Ruth figured it was because they were checking in at one in the morning.

Charles led them up the elevator to the ninth floor, handing them their keys. "All our rooms are right by each other. If there's a problem, Erik is in 934, I am in 935, Raven in 936, Alex in 937, and Hank in 938."

"How were you able to get these rooms?" Jubilee asked, stepping out of the elevator.

Charles tapped his temple. "It's hard to explain, my dear. We'll convene in the morning, everyone. For now, get some sleep."

º º º º º

Ruth couldn't sleep. She never did like hotels. Or the night in general.

She always felt like there were ghosts in the house or that there was a murderer lurking in the shadows. Her parents forbid her from watching the news because she would see the constant stories about break-ins and murders.

She tried to fall asleep, but she had the strange feeling someone was watching her.

She broke when she heard breathing by her ear.

She shrieked, running out of her room, grabbing her key. She bolted to Scott's room, frantically knocking on the door, a scream caught in her throat.

Her skin was crawling, her heart racing, and she couldn't keep still. She broke out in a cold sweat. She felt her wings tear through her nightclothes, wincing at the loud rip.

Scott opened the door, adjusting his glasses. "What's wrong?"

She sighed, relaxing instantly at the sight of him, looking down the hallway for ghosts or people with knives. Just like when she was younger, her fear disappeared at the sight of another person, that other person usually being her parents or Lionel, occasionally.

"I hate nighttime. I get scared too easily."

He motioned towards her black wings. "I figured."

She sighed, dropping her head. "Can I stay with you?"

He nodded, stepping back to let her in. "Do you want to talk for a bit, help you relax?"

"Please?" She settled onto his bed, trying to keep her wings from crumpling underneath her.

He climbed onto the bed, pulling her towards him. He stroked her wings and she shuddered. He jerked his hand away. "Sorry, did I do something wrong?"

She shrugged, scooting closer towards him. "Just feels weird, is all." She buried her face in the crook of his neck, sighing. "You're so warm."

He laughed, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I'm glad. You want to talk or you good?"

She nodded. "My wings are still here, so I'm not good yet. Can we talk?"

"Mhm. About what?" He closed his eyes, resting his cheek on her head.

She kept her eyes open, darting around the room. "I dunno. Anything?" She intertwined her legs with his, trying to relax.

He hummed. "Well, for starters, can we talk about how you're way too comfortable right now."

She huffed. "Well, ex-ca-use me, Dexter, you're warm. 'Sides, I used to do this all the time with Lionel when I really couldn't sleep. This isn't my first rodeo or whatever the saying is."

He snorted, saying nothing. He rubbed her back, the space between her wings. She closed her eyes, humming quietly. The two stayed quiet, just staying in the other's company. Scott was like a furnace, warming her more than all the blankets he had at the end of the bed.

She was relaxed enough to close her eyes, drawing even closer to him. "What color are your eyes?"She had been wondering for the longest time and he did ask her what she wanted to talk about.

"My eyes?" He lifted his head to glance down at her.

She whined at the change, raising her hand to pull his head back down, running her hand through his soft hair. "Yeah. I've never seen your eyes, what color are they?"

He clicked his tongue, the sound echoing through the room. "I can't remember. I-I think blue. Or maybe gray. They look just like Alex's, so there's that. Why do you ask?"

She shrugged. "Eyes are the windows to the soul. They're not that important to me in general, but I've never seen yours. You seem to be the type that says a lot through his eyes.

He laughed quietly. "My mom used to say that I had really expressive eyes. That I couldn't lie because everything was written right there in my eyes."

She looked up at him. "That's really cute. I believe it."

He glanced down at her back, smiling. "Hey, look. Your wings are gone."

She smiled against his neck, not saying anything. She had a feeling her wings had disappeared the moment he had told her the color of his eyes; she had been wondering since the moment she met him.

She shivered as he rubbed her back, his hands cold. "Ehh, your hands are cold!" He snickered, keeping his hand over the slits in her shirt. She sighed, letting him keep his hands there. She sighed, remembering something. "Lionel used to do this, actually. He had cold hands, so he'd put his hands on my back to help me calm down and cool off if I panicked too much."

Scott didn't say anything. He slowly reached under her shirt, cautiously placing his hand on her back. She shuddered slightly, relaxing after a few moments.

She closed her eyes, focusing on the feel of his cold hand; she couldn't tell him everything. "Well, he's really nice. He's good at playing catch, but he always said he'd never ever join the football team. He's the best."

Scott closed his eyes, slowly dozing off. "He sounds great."

Ruth sighed, eyes heavy. Without knowing, she said, "Yeah. He was."

a/n ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 17, 2016 BUT UPDATED TO CHANGE THE GIF UP TOP

ehhhhh I rewrote this chapter three times! ahhh, it's so much better in my head!!!! Oh well, whatever. This chapter's just a filler, so it's not that big of a deal. Sort of.

I'm not sure I made it clear enough, but Ruth last few lines were really important.

Cookies N' Cream came out in 1983, which is when Apocalypse took place, making this story take place in 1984. I wanted to mention it because research. Gosh, it's two in the morning, I don't know what I'm saying I'm going to wake up and read this and have no idea where I'm going with this.

I hope you enjoyed! The end is nigh!