No Angels

Chapter 5

All Heather wanted to do was abort the goddamn mission and go crawl under a rock and ponder over how she even maintained to survive the last 25 years of her life. But she couldn't do that because the man was still staring straight into her eyes - into her freaking soul - with the most confused look she'd ever seen and - and she couldn't just quit on Edie or Erik. They needed her. Even if she was the most awkward thing to grace the earth, and even if there was a possibility that instead of helping, she really could just be hurting one by rubbing salt on his wounds.

The man continued to stare at her, before his nervous smile returned and he replied in what sounded like a British accent, "Hello there. Can I, uh, help you with something?"

Wow, if some weird pilgrim girl was on Heather's front porch and not saying a word, she would have shut the door and called the police by now. So - maybe this was a good sign. She took a deep breath and nearly cried in relief when words - real words - came out of her mouth. "Is Erik Lehnsherr here?"

The man blinked in surprise, responding, "Yes, he - "

Heather honestly didn't to interrupt or seem rude, but when the word "yes" came out of his mouth, Edie's presence behind her intensified and something - power maybe? she had no clue - surged through her and she blurted out, "Could I come in? To talk to him?" Her cheeks heated up slightly, as she added, "Sorry, it's - just very important that I speak to him."

The man nodded after a few seconds, beckoning her inside. She gulped, stepping over the threshold, and looked around, taking in her surrounding. The inside of the house, while very elegant and beautiful, didn't look cozy nor did it look very lived in with dust collecting on a few surfaces and some random cardboard boxes scattered through the main hall. "Do you mind me asking what your name is?"

"No, not at all," Heather replied, trying her best to sound polite while also trying not to hyperventilate, "I'm Heather Coleman."

The man's nervous smile relaxed into a much more normal and natural one. "Charles. Charles Xavier." He held out his hand for her to shake and Heather stared at it for a moment, heart beating wildly against her rib cage - humancontacthumancontactohgod - before surprising herself by taking it calmly and shaking it firmly instead of, you know, continuing to stare at it in fear. He released her hand after a few seconds before beckoning her once more to follow him. Charles lead her a few feet down the hall before walking through a wide entryway into what appeared to be a sitting room.

He motioned for her to sit, simply saying "I'll be right back" before disappearing down the hall. Heather let out a huff of relief and continued to stand for a moment, examining the bright room, shielding her eyes from the sunlight that flooded in through the large windows, before moving carefully over to the vintage looking couch. Once seated, Heather crossed her legs, straightened her headband, fixed the collar on her shirt, smoothed down her skirt, cracked her knuckles - 

"Will you stop fidgeting?"

Heather glanced at Edie, who was standing in the entryway, watching her, before replying, trying to keep her voice soft, "Sorry. I normally don't - I guess I'm just really nervous." 

Edie's face softened. "Oh, liebe, don't worry. If things start to go back, I'll help you. I won't leave you alone." Something in Heather's gut twisted painfully upon hearing that, but she still smiled thankfully at the woman. She opened her mouth to respond, but the sound of footsteps approaching the room became even more evident and oh god oh god oh god she wasn't ready - 

Though his hair was straighter than it had been in the photo and he looked like ten times more irritated now, the man standing beside Charles was definitely Erik Lehnsherr. Out of the corner of her eye, Heather could see Edie covering her mouth with her hand shakily and if she looked closer, she could the tears shining in the woman's eyes.