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Rose arrived back at the cottage where Atif and Billy were already sitting in the living room looking at the briefcase that had landed on the coffee table while they were still sleeping. “Afternoon Rose. So mission go bad?”, Atif asked turning on the television. A news broadcast was paused from the cable box and he hit play. “Police do not have any leads as to what the three men were doing in the basement of the old church. However they are ruling the incident as an accident. We spoke with the fire chief on scene.”, the female anchor said before showing the clip of her talking to a fireman. “Is there anything about this scene that would lead you to believe there was foul play Chief Bricks?”, she asked pointing the mic to the firemen. “No miss. The building was condemned years ago. And from all evidence it appears to have been a leak in the gas main to the structure and one of the men did have a lighter on his person. We believe that these men were squatters seeking refuge and unaware of the gas leak and went to light a fag resulting in the explosion and fire.”, he said. “What about the bullets, bullet holes and guns found on the scene?”, the news anchor asked. “That would be more a question for the police. But they could have just been shooting their guns for the heck of it for all I know.”, the fireman said. Atif turned the television off and looked at Rose and the hole in the shoulder of her jacket and shirt.
Rose blinked at the television and then looked back to Atif and Billy. “My god..I didn’t… I didn’t think they’d kill them. Oh my god.”, Rose said in shock sitting down. “Didn’t think who’d kill who? What happened?”, Billy asked. “Donovan and I weren't the only ones following the target. Which that brief case of blank paper was his. He left it at the coffee shop and I want to know why. But anyways we followed him to that church. He was meeting two other men. But they also had a boy tied up to a chair, he couldn’t be much older than Ororo or Hiro and Evan.”, she started to explained. “They were going to torture the boy. He was obviously a mutant because he was terrified and he couldnt’ change in one shape. He kept becoming other people. And well we couldn’t let them hurt the boy. So we went in. And then two more mutants came in from upstairs wearing masks too. A woman grabbed the target who was holding a knife to the boy. She had some kind of venom on a talon that extended from her hand she threatened the target with while the other two had guns on me and Donovan.”, she explained.
Atif and Billy listened quietly waiting to ask their questions. “One shot me through the arm the other shot Donovan in his right side. Both went clean through and obviously we healed. The second mutant, a man, had wind powers because a strong gust of wind came from nowhere taking my attacker and pinned him to the wall. Donovan used his hot knives to pin the third. The target dropped his knife after being threatened by the woman. Donovan got the boy untied, and well we didn’t want to keep the boy there while we dealt with the situation. We wanted to get him to safety he became priority so we teleported with my watch to Muir Island. Which left the three men alone with those other two.”, Rose sighed running a hand over her face. Billy frowned not liking this one bit as it reminded him far too much of how the Academy students were trained. But he didn’t know any Academy students with those powers let alone any that had come to the United Kingdom. So he wasn't sure if there was a connection between them or not. “It’s alright Rose. You made the innocent your priority which is what you should have done. You didn't know what those two would do.”, Atif assured reaching over patting her knee. “What happened with the boy?”, Billy asked.
“Kyle Fraser, and Donovan is taking him to his last living relative a great aunt named Jocasta Fraser in Inverness apparently she’s also a mutant. After Kyle has been taken to his aunt I told Donovan to go to Ashley’s and teleport with her as it's his watch on the brief case.”, Rose explained with a sigh. She still couldn’t believe that those two mutants killed those men. Well she could they were horrible people but they weren’t allowed to be judge, jury and executioner. “So we wait fer As’ley and Donovan ta figure out wat dese blank papers are?”, Skye asked walking in from the garden having been outside drinking but listening via telepathy. Rose looked over and nodded. “Yeah.”, Rose said standing up. “I’m going to go call Merrick should be late enough over there I can catch a quick skype with him and Faelan before he heads to work. I need a cuteness cleansing from this morning.”, she sighed. Skye patted her on the shoulder as she walked by. “Tell lover boy we say ‘ello.”, Skye teased sitting down. Rose smiled rolling her eyes heading upstairs to her room where Octopus had gone back to sleep on her bed.
She nudged Octopus to make room on the bed and got out her tablet pulling up Skype to chat with Merrick. Merrick had put in a rather late night with Faelan having gone to bed late. He had been too tired when he crawled into his bed he hadn’t even moved his laptop which was still open from skype with Rose. So he grumbled and turned his head having fallen asleep on his stomach and his answer looking at the screen through half closed eyes. "Yes?", he questioned grumpily. His green-yellow eyes still half open kind of similar to a cat being disturbed from its nap. Rose blinked and smiled a bit. "Morning, sleepy-cat.", she greeted. "Mmm. Meow?", Merrick answered yawning. Rose chuckled softly. "I didn't mean to wake you up, I'm sorry.", she apologized. "It's alright...", he groaned a little stretching a little extending his arms to the headboard. "Pup would wake me up eventually. Toss up which is a cuter face to wake up to.", he smiled. It may be a computer screen but it at least had her face looking back at him. He’d have to wait till summer to get to wake up next to her physically again. God he missed waking up to her laying there next to him in the bed, her red hair all over the pillow and a little in his face from being cuddled up to her. She laughed quietly and shook her head.
"How are you and my pup?", she questioned. "Your pup huh? That mean when he keeps me up till three in the morning with his whining for you I can put him in a crate and ship him over there?", he teased with a smirk. She smirked back. "Maybe you can. But aww he stayed up whining for me?", she pouted feeling a pain of longing to comfort Faelan. "Yes. Mom took your jacket from him. Fair warning if you ever wanted that back you are officially shit out of luck. He bit mom when she took it. Hopefully she gives it back soon. Ended up giving him the pillow from my bed that still smells like you to get him to sleep. Furball is using it as a bed in his crib.", he explained yawning a little blinking his eyes to wake up. "He bit your mom?", she shook her head and chuckled softly. "Yup. In wolf form. Drew blood. He wasn't a fan of grandma taking to the jacket. He doesn't understand or care that she going to make it into a blanket for him.", he sighed. Rose shook her head and smiled. She didn't need that jacket anyway. "Didn't realize he'd miss me that much.", she sighed. "You imprinted on him what can I say. Maybe it's genetic.", he smirked "Maybe I like that.", she smirked back. "So yeah that was my night after you went to bed. Mom took the jacket to start working on the blanket. He bit her and thankfully it wasn't too bad. And then I dealt with him till 3am when I brought him in here and he found your scent on the pillow. Which now the goober has my pillow that I kept because it smells like you.", he sighed rolling to his right side his blanket slipping down showing his bare chest.
"Poor Merrick. But there should be some of your shirts I wore that smell like you.", she chuckled smiling at him. She couldn’t help smiling seeing him laying in bed shirtless, her bite mark on his left shoulder and hair all a mess. That was a sight she’d become so accustomed to during June when she stayed at the Haven with him. "Indeed poor me. I've been reduced to keeping certain items unwashed because they smell like you. What the fuck did you do to me?", he questioned chuckling. It was a valid question to him. He’d never been like this about other women. But Rose was different. Rose was special to him. She had imprinted on him much like she’d done Faelan. But he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. To just tell her he loved her. He knew he felt that way and that strongly. But saying the words would make it all real. And then there would be a choice to make between here and there for both of them. "Slept with you?", Rose laughed and shrugged. "That's a long list who've done that. Don't keep things that they smelled up. Heck I used to deep clean my car to get their scents out. Now it's to get formul, baby drool and spit up out.", he smiled. "I didn't do anything else. Had to be something you did.", she said placing blame. "Something I did? All I've done is sleep with you and well had a pup. But the dads aren't supposed to get the change in hormones like that.", he defended. "Well obviously you're making up for the mother.", she pointed out. "Mm.. Something like that I guess. Though you keep claiming him so isn't that your job?", he teased. "Oh but you're doing such a good job.", she countered.
Merrick chuckled. "So what's happening on your side of the planet?", he asked. “Oh just the usual making life or death calls were I save one life but cause the death of three others..”, she sighed. Merrick furrowed his brow and picked up the laptop sitting up in the bed setting it on his lap tilting the screen to see better. “What happened little wolf?”, he asked fully awake now. Rose sighed. “Went on what was supposed to be just a surveillance mission with Donovan this morning.”, she started to explain. Merrick nodded keeping his growling inside at the mention of Donovan. He’d never met him but description of behavior said enough. The guy had a thing for Rose and Merrick didn’t like it. “Which was going fine till we follow the target to an abandoned church. Picked up three more scents in the building. Decided we were going to just bug the others and find out more intel on the church of humanity’s activities. So we move in for a closer look. Turns out of the three other scents I picked up one is a shapeshifter boy and he’s tied to a chair and they are about to torture him picking up their knives…”, she continued gulping a little thinking about Kyle sitting there scared to death. Merrick sighed as she told him about the child. “We couldn’t just do nothing. So we went in. Two of them pointed guns at Donovan and I, which really bullets don’t scare me. But the third, our actual target, he held a knife to the boy. We didn’t realize it that we weren’t the only ones follow him. Two more mutants came in wearing masks. A girl who grew a talon from her hand and held it to our target’s throat some type of toxin dripping burning a hole in his shirt. But them showing up startled the other two who shot me and Donovan. Both shots went straight through so no real damage except to my leather jacket that I loved. Then the other masked mutant, a man who could control the wind blasted the one that shot me into the wall with a strong gust. While Donovan used his hot knives to pin the third to the wall. Donovan and I untied the boy but we had a choice stay and handle the bad guys risking the boy’s life further or get the boy to safety but risk losing our target and leave them to god knows what fait with the two unknown mutants.”, she sighed frowning a little.
Merrick nodded. “You saved the kid. It was the right move. I’d have probably done the same, depending on how old the kid was.”, Merrick sighed. “He was maybe ten.”, Rose sighed. “So yeah I’d have done the same little wolf. I’ve got a soft spot for kids and apparently redheads.”, he winked. She smiled despite herself. “I know it was the right choice, the innocent kid was priority. We got him to Muir Island safely and found a surviving relative in Inverness. Apparently when the men took him they killed his parents and burned down his house. I had Donovan take him to his aunt. I get home to find out from Atif and Billy that the news was covering an explosion and fire at an abandoned church with three dead bodies. It was the same church I’d just been in. Which means those two masked mutants I left the guys with killed them and set the church on fire using a gas leak to cover their tracks. So I don’t know if I’m dealing with over ambitious friends or just straight up foes. Because we don’t kill, we capture and leave the bad guys for the police to take away and they can go through all the regular processing of the laws here.I just I don’t know if we are dealing with just some random people or if this is going to be like going up against the Acolytes back home, where there is a larger number of them we just haven’t come across yet.”, she sighed again. “I’m sorry I woke you up just to dump this on you. I just…”, she apologized. “You needed someone that’s not part of the team to get it out to. And that’s alright Rose. If I didn’t want to talk to you I’d not have hit answer on the skype. I wanted to talked to you, to hear your voice and see your face.”, he smiled. Rose smiled.
“Rose? They’re here!”, Atif shouted up the stairs. “I gotta go. Ashley and Donovan just got here. We’ve got some team stuff to go over.”, she sighed. She didn’t want to hang up because then she’d not be looking at him anymore. “Go do your team thing little wolf. I’ll go take care of our pup. Miss you. I’ll talk to you later.”, he smiled. He wanted to say ‘I love you’ but miss you is what came out. Rose smiled hearing him call Faelan theirs. “Give me pup lots of hugs and kisses from me. Miss you too. Bye Merrick.”, she said blowing a kiss at the screen before closing the chat. Rose sighed and looked over at Octopus who’d not moved. “Lazy beast.”, she teased climbing off the bed and rubbing his belly. “Come on.”, she encouraged. Octopus meowed and jumped to the floor with a thud from his weight and followed her down stairs to the living room. Rose went to sit in her chair to go over things with the team while octopus made his rounds rubbing against Ashley who leaned petting him giving him a treat as she had taken to carrying them since joining the team just to give him.
“How are Merrick and Faelan?”, Ashley asked having been told Rose had gone to skype. “I didn’t get to talked to Faelan he was still in bed. Actually woke poor Merrick up. Apparently I left a rather strong impression on Faelan. Pup whines wanting me and so far my leather jacket I left there has kept him happy. Till last night when Kim took it from him to make it into a blanket. He actually bit her. Merrick ended up staying up with him till around three before giving up and letting Faelan take the pillow I’d used when I was there because it still had my scent.”, Rose said with a softly smile. She liked the idea that she’d imprinted on Faelan that he loved her so. “Aww poor puppy.”, Ashley pouted scooping Octopus up and sitting down. Donovan rolled his eyes but got elbowed by his twin. “Dat’s verra sweet dat wee Faelan loves ya so. Now if only his dah would fess up dere’d be no more questioning by peanut galleries.”, Skye smiled sitting next to her cousin Ashley rubbing Octopus’ belly as she stretched out over their combined laps. Rose chuckled a little at Octopus. “It is very sweet that Faelan loves me that much after only spending a month with me. I can’t wait till I can go back and visit I miss my pup.”, Rose sighed. Atif nudged his twin exchanged a smirk at Rose calling Faelan hers.
“Anyways on to business. Donovan you got Kyle safe to his aunt correct? Any issues?”, she asked looking to Donovan. “None. Nice looking ‘ouse his aunt seemed nice enoug’ and wanted ta make sure he was okay. T’ink he’ll be well cared for, gave him mah number just in case anyways.”, Donovan explained. Rose nodded and picked up the briefcase taking Donovan’s watch off tossing it to him. “There so you can travel on your own again.”, Rose said. “T’anks.”, he said catching the watch and putting it back on his left wrist. “So Ah ‘eard our mysterious ‘friends’ aren’t muc’ better dan da bad guys. Atif told me dey ended up killing dose blokes and setting da church on fire ta cover dere tracks. We gunna investigate w’o dey are?”, Donovan asked. “Yes we are going to need to figure out who those two are. I’m going to send the information over to Forge but I doubt they’ll be in his and Landon’s databases but as least this way they’ll get added even if as Jon and Jane Doe. What I also want to check into more are these blank pieces of paper.”, Rose said opening the briefcase taking out the five sheets of blank paper. “Well I stopped at Muir Island before coming here with Donovan and picked up something I thought could be helpful. Donovan hit the lights for me.”, Ashley requested pulling something from her pocket.
Donovan nodded and hit the lights. Ashley flicked on the infrared light she’d brought and took one of the sheets of papers. “I talked to Xavier before coming over, he suggested maybe there was a certain type of ink used and infrared or blacklight could show the information.”, Ashley explained running the light over the page and as she did words in a different language started to appear. “Well it’s obviously some kind of code, they are going to some serious lengths to hide what they are doing. Just not sure what language this is.”, Ashley said grabbing another sheet and repeating the process on all five pages. Everyone each took a page trying to figure out if they recognized the language. “I've got nothing.”, Billy frowned. “Ditto.”, Atif sighed setting his page. “Ah ain’t got a clue.”, Skye sighed. “Nor Ah.”, Donovan said setting his page. “Well that means none of us recognize the language. Who do we know that’s a linguist…”, Rose pondered. Donovan hit the lights again. “Hope!”, Ashley exclaimed. Donovan and Skye looked at their cousin like she was crazy. “‘Ope?”, Donovan asked. “Yes. Hope Summers. She’s at Harvard for linguistics. And if she doesn’t know it I’m sure a professor there will. Or maybe we could ask one of the Mister Howletts they’ve been around long enough they might recognize the language.”, Ashley said. Rose chuckled a little at the thought of her father and uncle deciphering this language for them, not because they probably couldn’t just because it’d be funny.
“Let’s try Hope. Ashley scan the pages and send them over to her ask her for help. CC Forge and Landon too. Maybe they will be able to help as well. We’ll otherwise check the Cambridge library for language books to see if we can find a match ourselves too.”, Rose instructed. “Sounds like a plan.”, Ashley said collecting the five pages. “Atif where’s your printer?”, she asked looking to her brother. “I’ll show you up it's the guest room/office.”, Atif said getting up. Ashley moved Octopus off her lap so he was only half on the couch and half on Skye’s lap as she followed her twin. “Alrig’t so now wat we gunna do bout dose oder two?”, Donovan asked. “The guy had said something about seven people died at the hands of our target. So let’s start digging and researching into any recent murders of seven people in the United Kingdom. The girl’s accent was very cockney but his was more York so it could be anywhere. But it’s at least a clue.”, Rose sighed. Ashley came back down with Atif handing the originals to Rose. “Email sent and I made a copy for me to reference and i’ll see about doing some research between rehearsals.”, Ashley said. “Thanks.”, Rose said taking the pages back. “I’ll see you guys soon. Need to head back though, have rehearsal in an hour actually. And by the way next time we are back home remind me to stop at the institute and give a huge huge to Forge for making these watches they totally rock.”, Ashley commented with a wave before hitting the button on her watch to return home.
“Ah s’ould go back too. Getting some pints wid mah rugby teammates den need ta get some rest before practice in da morning. Bye.”, Donovan said taking his leave pressing the button on his watch. “Ah’ve got a date ta get ready fer especially now dat Ah covered in orange fur.” , Skye chuckled picking Octopus up and getting him off her lap brushing away his fur. “Later all.”, she smiled heading out the front door. “Guess that leaves us. Want to go hit the library then?”, Atif asked standing up. “We can check news for those seven killed and see if we can identify the language.”, Atif offered. “You two go ahead. “I think I’m going to get a nap maybe called Merrick back I don’t know. But leave one of the pages I’ll see about muddling it over.”, she said. “Alright.”, Billy said taking the other pages and heading out the door with Billy. Rose sighed looking at the page with a frown before heading back upstairs. She wanted to talk to Merrick again. But she wasn’t sure if she should try again so soon. She sighed starting up her laptop as she got into her room and smiled seeing he was still online for skype and hit the call. Merrick turned and hit the answer seeing it was Rose, leaning across the bed in the middle of getting dressed. “Twice in a matter of hours. I’m feeling very special this morning.”, he teased leaning back to get dressed not really caring that at the moment he was nude. Rose was about to greet him but her mouth just hung up seeing him fully naked.
“Um.. should I call back?”, she asked. Merrick chuckled and pulled on a pair of boxers. “Nah, just getting dressed. But that better? Less distracting?”, he teased. “Yes much less distracting than getting full frontal. Won’t say better but less distracting.”, she laughed. Merrick smirked. “So how’d your team meeting go?”, he asked glancing over as he went to pull a shirt from the closet. “It went. We were able to figure out what was on the blank papers in the target’s briefcase he’d left at the coffee shop. But they aren’t in a language we recognize. Ashley sent copies to Hope, Forge and Landon and otherwise we are going to do some digging on our end too. Also going to try and figure out who those two mutants are that got involved today. They left us kind of a clue when they said they were after our target because he killed seven.”, Rose explained. “Language you don’t recognize… hmm. Fun code breaking now. Can I look? Or is that too insider information for a neutral Haven member?”, he teased pulling on a pair of jeans. Rose rolled her eyes. “It’s not really insider information. It’s not French, which I know you took in high school so not sure if you’d recognize it either.”, she said getting the page.
“Even if it was French I wouldn’t. I barely passed that class.”, he smirked. “Well rumor was you only passed because you were sleeping with Miss Zimmerman.”, Rose commented. Merrick laughed shaking his head. “Wasn’t sleeping with her. I do have rules and well some integrity. Sleeping with a teacher, especially for a grade violates those. If she chose to pass me because she liked the way I look that I have no control over. You used to wonder why I wore baggy clothes back in the day. Well she was part of the reason.You get oggled less when your clothes don’t show your frame. Now let me look at the page.”, he said wanting to change the subject. Rose laughed a little though it wasn’t funny if he was actually being harassed by their high school French teacher. “Alright well here’s the page.”, she said hold it up to the camera. Merrick leaned a bit closer to look. “That’s Italian little wolf.”, he stated. Rose blinked pulling the page back. “You sure? You know Italian?”, she questioned. “Yes I’m sure. I can’t read Italian. But I know a few phrases. Like Mio Dio, which is ‘My God’. Also know Lupo Cattivo means Big Bad Wolf. Mozzafiato means breathtaking. And Fanculo means fuck. Though when you combine my god and fuck to say my fucking god it’s mio dio cazzo.”, he smirked. Rose shook her head. She couldn’t only imagine where some of those phrases would have come into play and who he probably heard them from. She didn't really want to think about why Zoe had said those things to him.
“Other than lupo cattivo being my nickname those are things Zoe has said in regards to my furniture and stuff I build at the shop.”, Merrick said seeing the look on Rose’s face. It wasn’t a lie she said stuff like that about his furniture but she had also said stuff like that back when they fooled around and he knew mozzafiato because he asked what the word for breathtaking was to call her. However he figured Rose didn’t want to know that. He’d been upfront about having had a more than friend relationship with Zoe before Faelan but he doubted she wanted any details. Rose nodded a little. “Do you think Zoe could translate? Are you going to… see her today?”, she asked. “Didn’t have any plans with her today. But Zoe generally stops by the shop in the afternoon most days if she’s not in class or at work. But email me the pages and I’ll print them out and stop by her place this morning for you.”, he shrugged pulling his black t-shirt over his head. “Alright. Thanks Merrick. Tell Zoe we appreciate the help.”, Rose said getting the saved files from the shared folder that her and the others use for excalibur stuff and thankfully where Ashley had saved the scans whens he emailed them out earlier. “Email has been sent.”, she smiled. “Alright I’ll print them out and stop by Zoe’s see if she can translate for you. But I better get going. Talk to you later little wolf.”, he said pulling up the email and hitting print for the attachments. “Thanks Merrick. Talk to you later.”, she waved ending the chat. She sighed a little moving the laptop off the bed stretching out. “Just what he needed another reason to be around her.”, she frowned closing her eyes trying to not think about that and instead just think about him answering the skype naked and how on their chat earlier he called Faelan theirs.
When Mason and Adder finally got back to London it was late. Adder went straight to the kitchen getting out a beer and slumping onto the sofa. Mason raised an eyebrow and sighed. she’d been like this since he got back from Manchester and he wasn’t sure what was wrong. She didn’t really seem to want to talk about it. He had an idea what was wrong, but he didn’t trust office rumors. But the rumor going around the marketing department Ollie worked in was that Ollie had been fooling around with Genevieve and got caught. Mason had tried to give her space and not ask too much about about where Ollie was or why she wasn’t going out on dates recently. But the sulking needed to end. He walked over and sat down on the sofa next to her. “So you going to finally tell me what’s going on?”, he asked taking the beer from her hand and taking a swig handing it back. “Ain’t notin’ ta tell.”, she answered taking a long gulp from the beer. “Adder come on. Just talk to me. I’ve known you for five years and I know when something isn't right. This about Ollie?”, he asked looking at her. Adder’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Ollie. “Ah said t’ere ain’t notin’ ta talk bout.”, she said finishing off the beer getting up to grab a second.
“Nothing to talk about? Adder you just finished that beer in like three minutes. If something is bothering you, you can talk to me about it. We’re best friends after all. We are partners, we go out that front door and we have to trust each other with our lives. So if something is taking your head out of it I need to know. So what happened with Oliver?”, he asked. Adder sighed walking back in popping the top off a second bottle and taking a long drink before sitting down again. “Notin’ wort’ getting ya involved over mate. Ah ain’t gunna put ya in a position w’ere ya tink ya gotta choose a side between mates. Oliver and Ah aren’t toget’er anymore so notin’ ta tell.”, she sighed. Mason frowned and put an arm around her shoulders hugging her a little. “What you thought if you told me that you two split I’d pick a side?”, he asked. Adder shook her head leaning into him a little. She always found comfort when his arm was around her. “It ain’t t’at.”, she said taking another long swig from the bottle. “Then what is it?”, he asked taking the bottle and grabbing a sip before she could finish it off. “It’s ‘ow we split.”, she sighed taking the bottle back and taking another sip.

“So talk to me. What happened?”, he asked. Adder sighed, she didn’t like even thinking about it. Oliver had been her first boyfriend and then some. So it hurt still that he’d cheated like that and had thought she’d have cheated with Mason. She looked at Mason from the corner of her eyes and frowned, maybe Oliver had a point if Mason ever expressed verbally or physically he wanted her she wasn’t sure being with someone or not would have stopped her. “He...well he c’eated.”, Adder finally said. "What exactly was his excuse? They always have some excuse why they cheated.", Mason questioned. She sighed and finished off her beer. "T’at all t’e times Ah left, w’en yer secretary would call durin' a fight. He t’oug’t Ah was c’eatin' wit’ ya.", she explained getting up wanting another drink. "What? We're mates never been more. He actually thought the two of us together? He seriously thought either of us would do that to him? Apparently someone hasn’t been paying attention to the type of bloke I've been since primary school. Or the type of bird you are.", Mason said a bit outraged at this. He had been told Ollie cheated through the rumor mill but he hadn’t been told that his excuse was thinking that Adder was cheating with him.

"He knows we weren't, said he was sorry. But Ah'm not goin' back.", she said walking back with her third beer. "Nor should you. Cheaters don't change. I'm sorry Adder.", he sighed. he felt partially to blame. It was him who always kept her from spending more time with Ollie. Maybe it was a subconscious thing, but ultimately he only wanted Adder to be happy. "It wasn't ya. He didn't trust me, mate.", she sighed taking a long swig of her beer. "Yeah but I didn't need to call if you were out. No matter what the situation or stakes were.", Mason frowned taking the beer for another sip. She shook her head. "Ah'm yer teammate. My place is protectin ya.", she said taking the beer back for another long swig. "Not at this kind of cost though. What we do... it shouldn't cost either of us happiness.", he shook his head. "Mate, please don't get down. He was mah first man, but Ah'll get over it.", Adder sighed softly. "Yeah I suppose. Guess he set the bar low for future prospects to be better. Still can't believe someone who's been one of my mates since primary school could think I'd ever be someone's side guy. Or that you and I'd ever... We're not like that. Not sure what'd give him that notion.", shaking his head taking the beer back from her and shaking it about to take a sip. "You drank the rest of our beer." , he pouted. He wasn’t really upset about there not being anymore beer but that this meant she’d drank three beers basically on her own.
"Yea, mason. Ya made it clear lots o times we're not like t’at, ta everyone.", she said softly. She stood up and grabbed the empty bottle. "Ah'll bring us out some more.", she said heading to the kitchen. "I just don't get why people like to think it. As if two people of opposite genders can't have a functioning platonic relationship. Yeah we're close. I'm close to Ashton too but people don't assume we're gay.", he sighed shaking his head. She walked out of the kitchen and handed him a beer, sitting down and opening hers to take a healthy drink from it. "No idea, mate.", she shrugged. "Hey kind of think you’ve had your limit drinking three basically by yourself", he said taking her beer setting his unopened down drinking from the open. "People I think just like to gossip. They want there to be something so they can find faults in others and not feel as bad about themselves. Yes took some psychology courses as electives.", he chuckled. Adder sighed and glared a bit as he took the bottle. "Mason. Ah'm goin ta bed, Goodnig’t.", she stood up starting to head to her room. She just... Couldn't right now with him. Mason frowned a little. "Alright. Night Leah.", he sighed. She just sighed as she walked away, not saying anything else. Mason sighed. "And you're an unhelpful git.", he muttered to himself finishing the newly opened beer before tossing the bottle and putting the unopened back before going to his room.
It was later in the day that Rose got an email from Merrick with the attachment of the translated pages from Zoe. She looked at the email first smiling reading what he wrote. “Hey Little Wolf. So dropped the pages off with Zoe this morning before work. She was happy to help you out. Picked up the attached translations on lunch. The sixth attached picture is from lunch. Had Faelan with me and Zoe made spaghetti alla norma. Just look at the picture it was too damn cute. From what she translated looks like these guys had plans for hitting different businesses and individual homes in different areas of the UK. Looks like each page is for different areas of the country. Southern England, Wales, Northern England, Southern Scotland, and Northern Scotland respectfully. I don’t know if you six can really stretch that far to handle it. And I know you aren’t exactly on speaking terms with your old headmaster… but you might want to reach out and get X-Men help. Anyways just stay safe alright, kind of like you in one piece. Miss you. Skype you later so you can finally talk to Faelan. Yours, Merrick.”, she read aloud in her bedroom. “Yours…..”, she repeated with a smile. She opened the picture first and laughed at the spaghetti covered Faelan smiling living sauce of his face. She then opened the attachments and looked over the translations. He was right this wasn’t going to be easy or something they could handle on their own. She’d have to talk to the team and see how they felt about getting help from the X-Men on this.

;) (Wink) — Description
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Rose arrived back at the cottage where Atif and Billy were already sitting in the living room looking at the briefcase that had landed on the coffee table while they were still sleeping. “Afternoon Rose. So mission go bad?”, Atif asked turning on the television. A news broadcast was paused from the cable box and he hit play. “Police do not have any leads as to what the three men were doing in the basement of the old church. However they are ruling the incident as an accident. We spoke with the fire chief on scene.”, the female anchor said before showing the clip of her talking to a fireman. “Is there anything about this scene that would lead you to believe there was foul play Chief Bricks?”, she asked pointing the mic to the firemen. “No miss. The building was condemned years ago. And from all evidence it appears to have been a leak in the gas main to the structure and one of the men did have a lighter on his person. We believe that these men were squatters seeking refuge and unaware of the gas leak and went to light a fag resulting in the explosion and fire.”, he said. “What about the bullets, bullet holes and guns found on the scene?”, the news anchor asked. “That would be more a question for the police. But they could have just been shooting their guns for the heck of it for all I know.”, the fireman said. Atif turned the television off and looked at Rose and the hole in the shoulder of her jacket and shirt.
Rose blinked at the television and then looked back to Atif and Billy. “My god..I didn’t… I didn’t think they’d kill them. Oh my god.”, Rose said in shock sitting down. “Didn’t think who’d kill who? What happened?”, Billy asked. “Donovan and I weren't the only ones following the target. Which that brief case of blank paper was his. He left it at the coffee shop and I want to know why. But anyways we followed him to that church. He was meeting two other men. But they also had a boy tied up to a chair, he couldn’t be much older than Ororo or Hiro and Evan.”, she started to explained. “They were going to torture the boy. He was obviously a mutant because he was terrified and he couldnt’ change in one shape. He kept becoming other people. And well we couldn’t let them hurt the boy. So we went in. And then two more mutants came in from upstairs wearing masks too. A woman grabbed the target who was holding a knife to the boy. She had some kind of venom on a talon that extended from her hand she threatened the target with while the other two had guns on me and Donovan.”, she explained.
Atif and Billy listened quietly waiting to ask their questions. “One shot me through the arm the other shot Donovan in his right side. Both went clean through and obviously we healed. The second mutant, a man, had wind powers because a strong gust of wind came from nowhere taking my attacker and pinned him to the wall. Donovan used his hot knives to pin the third. The target dropped his knife after being threatened by the woman. Donovan got the boy untied, and well we didn’t want to keep the boy there while we dealt with the situation. We wanted to get him to safety he became priority so we teleported with my watch to Muir Island. Which left the three men alone with those other two.”, Rose sighed running a hand over her face. Billy frowned not liking this one bit as it reminded him far too much of how the Academy students were trained. But he didn’t know any Academy students with those powers let alone any that had come to the United Kingdom. So he wasn't sure if there was a connection between them or not. “It’s alright Rose. You made the innocent your priority which is what you should have done. You didn't know what those two would do.”, Atif assured reaching over patting her knee. “What happened with the boy?”, Billy asked.
“Kyle Fraser, and Donovan is taking him to his last living relative a great aunt named Jocasta Fraser in Inverness apparently she’s also a mutant. After Kyle has been taken to his aunt I told Donovan to go to Ashley’s and teleport with her as it's his watch on the brief case.”, Rose explained with a sigh. She still couldn’t believe that those two mutants killed those men. Well she could they were horrible people but they weren’t allowed to be judge, jury and executioner. “So we wait fer As’ley and Donovan ta figure out wat dese blank papers are?”, Skye asked walking in from the garden having been outside drinking but listening via telepathy. Rose looked over and nodded. “Yeah.”, Rose said standing up. “I’m going to go call Merrick should be late enough over there I can catch a quick skype with him and Faelan before he heads to work. I need a cuteness cleansing from this morning.”, she sighed. Skye patted her on the shoulder as she walked by. “Tell lover boy we say ‘ello.”, Skye teased sitting down. Rose smiled rolling her eyes heading upstairs to her room where Octopus had gone back to sleep on her bed.
She nudged Octopus to make room on the bed and got out her tablet pulling up Skype to chat with Merrick. Merrick had put in a rather late night with Faelan having gone to bed late. He had been too tired when he crawled into his bed he hadn’t even moved his laptop which was still open from skype with Rose. So he grumbled and turned his head having fallen asleep on his stomach and his answer looking at the screen through half closed eyes. "Yes?", he questioned grumpily. His green-yellow eyes still half open kind of similar to a cat being disturbed from its nap. Rose blinked and smiled a bit. "Morning, sleepy-cat.", she greeted. "Mmm. Meow?", Merrick answered yawning. Rose chuckled softly. "I didn't mean to wake you up, I'm sorry.", she apologized. "It's alright...", he groaned a little stretching a little extending his arms to the headboard. "Pup would wake me up eventually. Toss up which is a cuter face to wake up to.", he smiled. It may be a computer screen but it at least had her face looking back at him. He’d have to wait till summer to get to wake up next to her physically again. God he missed waking up to her laying there next to him in the bed, her red hair all over the pillow and a little in his face from being cuddled up to her. She laughed quietly and shook her head.
"How are you and my pup?", she questioned. "Your pup huh? That mean when he keeps me up till three in the morning with his whining for you I can put him in a crate and ship him over there?", he teased with a smirk. She smirked back. "Maybe you can. But aww he stayed up whining for me?", she pouted feeling a pain of longing to comfort Faelan. "Yes. Mom took your jacket from him. Fair warning if you ever wanted that back you are officially shit out of luck. He bit mom when she took it. Hopefully she gives it back soon. Ended up giving him the pillow from my bed that still smells like you to get him to sleep. Furball is using it as a bed in his crib.", he explained yawning a little blinking his eyes to wake up. "He bit your mom?", she shook her head and chuckled softly. "Yup. In wolf form. Drew blood. He wasn't a fan of grandma taking to the jacket. He doesn't understand or care that she going to make it into a blanket for him.", he sighed. Rose shook her head and smiled. She didn't need that jacket anyway. "Didn't realize he'd miss me that much.", she sighed. "You imprinted on him what can I say. Maybe it's genetic.", he smirked "Maybe I like that.", she smirked back. "So yeah that was my night after you went to bed. Mom took the jacket to start working on the blanket. He bit her and thankfully it wasn't too bad. And then I dealt with him till 3am when I brought him in here and he found your scent on the pillow. Which now the goober has my pillow that I kept because it smells like you.", he sighed rolling to his right side his blanket slipping down showing his bare chest.
"Poor Merrick. But there should be some of your shirts I wore that smell like you.", she chuckled smiling at him. She couldn’t help smiling seeing him laying in bed shirtless, her bite mark on his left shoulder and hair all a mess. That was a sight she’d become so accustomed to during June when she stayed at the Haven with him. "Indeed poor me. I've been reduced to keeping certain items unwashed because they smell like you. What the fuck did you do to me?", he questioned chuckling. It was a valid question to him. He’d never been like this about other women. But Rose was different. Rose was special to him. She had imprinted on him much like she’d done Faelan. But he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. To just tell her he loved her. He knew he felt that way and that strongly. But saying the words would make it all real. And then there would be a choice to make between here and there for both of them. "Slept with you?", Rose laughed and shrugged. "That's a long list who've done that. Don't keep things that they smelled up. Heck I used to deep clean my car to get their scents out. Now it's to get formul, baby drool and spit up out.", he smiled. "I didn't do anything else. Had to be something you did.", she said placing blame. "Something I did? All I've done is sleep with you and well had a pup. But the dads aren't supposed to get the change in hormones like that.", he defended. "Well obviously you're making up for the mother.", she pointed out. "Mm.. Something like that I guess. Though you keep claiming him so isn't that your job?", he teased. "Oh but you're doing such a good job.", she countered.
Merrick chuckled. "So what's happening on your side of the planet?", he asked. “Oh just the usual making life or death calls were I save one life but cause the death of three others..”, she sighed. Merrick furrowed his brow and picked up the laptop sitting up in the bed setting it on his lap tilting the screen to see better. “What happened little wolf?”, he asked fully awake now. Rose sighed. “Went on what was supposed to be just a surveillance mission with Donovan this morning.”, she started to explain. Merrick nodded keeping his growling inside at the mention of Donovan. He’d never met him but description of behavior said enough. The guy had a thing for Rose and Merrick didn’t like it. “Which was going fine till we follow the target to an abandoned church. Picked up three more scents in the building. Decided we were going to just bug the others and find out more intel on the church of humanity’s activities. So we move in for a closer look. Turns out of the three other scents I picked up one is a shapeshifter boy and he’s tied to a chair and they are about to torture him picking up their knives…”, she continued gulping a little thinking about Kyle sitting there scared to death. Merrick sighed as she told him about the child. “We couldn’t just do nothing. So we went in. Two of them pointed guns at Donovan and I, which really bullets don’t scare me. But the third, our actual target, he held a knife to the boy. We didn’t realize it that we weren’t the only ones follow him. Two more mutants came in wearing masks. A girl who grew a talon from her hand and held it to our target’s throat some type of toxin dripping burning a hole in his shirt. But them showing up startled the other two who shot me and Donovan. Both shots went straight through so no real damage except to my leather jacket that I loved. Then the other masked mutant, a man who could control the wind blasted the one that shot me into the wall with a strong gust. While Donovan used his hot knives to pin the third to the wall. Donovan and I untied the boy but we had a choice stay and handle the bad guys risking the boy’s life further or get the boy to safety but risk losing our target and leave them to god knows what fait with the two unknown mutants.”, she sighed frowning a little.
Merrick nodded. “You saved the kid. It was the right move. I’d have probably done the same, depending on how old the kid was.”, Merrick sighed. “He was maybe ten.”, Rose sighed. “So yeah I’d have done the same little wolf. I’ve got a soft spot for kids and apparently redheads.”, he winked. She smiled despite herself. “I know it was the right choice, the innocent kid was priority. We got him to Muir Island safely and found a surviving relative in Inverness. Apparently when the men took him they killed his parents and burned down his house. I had Donovan take him to his aunt. I get home to find out from Atif and Billy that the news was covering an explosion and fire at an abandoned church with three dead bodies. It was the same church I’d just been in. Which means those two masked mutants I left the guys with killed them and set the church on fire using a gas leak to cover their tracks. So I don’t know if I’m dealing with over ambitious friends or just straight up foes. Because we don’t kill, we capture and leave the bad guys for the police to take away and they can go through all the regular processing of the laws here.I just I don’t know if we are dealing with just some random people or if this is going to be like going up against the Acolytes back home, where there is a larger number of them we just haven’t come across yet.”, she sighed again. “I’m sorry I woke you up just to dump this on you. I just…”, she apologized. “You needed someone that’s not part of the team to get it out to. And that’s alright Rose. If I didn’t want to talk to you I’d not have hit answer on the skype. I wanted to talked to you, to hear your voice and see your face.”, he smiled. Rose smiled.
“Rose? They’re here!”, Atif shouted up the stairs. “I gotta go. Ashley and Donovan just got here. We’ve got some team stuff to go over.”, she sighed. She didn’t want to hang up because then she’d not be looking at him anymore. “Go do your team thing little wolf. I’ll go take care of our pup. Miss you. I’ll talk to you later.”, he smiled. He wanted to say ‘I love you’ but miss you is what came out. Rose smiled hearing him call Faelan theirs. “Give me pup lots of hugs and kisses from me. Miss you too. Bye Merrick.”, she said blowing a kiss at the screen before closing the chat. Rose sighed and looked over at Octopus who’d not moved. “Lazy beast.”, she teased climbing off the bed and rubbing his belly. “Come on.”, she encouraged. Octopus meowed and jumped to the floor with a thud from his weight and followed her down stairs to the living room. Rose went to sit in her chair to go over things with the team while octopus made his rounds rubbing against Ashley who leaned petting him giving him a treat as she had taken to carrying them since joining the team just to give him.
“How are Merrick and Faelan?”, Ashley asked having been told Rose had gone to skype. “I didn’t get to talked to Faelan he was still in bed. Actually woke poor Merrick up. Apparently I left a rather strong impression on Faelan. Pup whines wanting me and so far my leather jacket I left there has kept him happy. Till last night when Kim took it from him to make it into a blanket. He actually bit her. Merrick ended up staying up with him till around three before giving up and letting Faelan take the pillow I’d used when I was there because it still had my scent.”, Rose said with a softly smile. She liked the idea that she’d imprinted on Faelan that he loved her so. “Aww poor puppy.”, Ashley pouted scooping Octopus up and sitting down. Donovan rolled his eyes but got elbowed by his twin. “Dat’s verra sweet dat wee Faelan loves ya so. Now if only his dah would fess up dere’d be no more questioning by peanut galleries.”, Skye smiled sitting next to her cousin Ashley rubbing Octopus’ belly as she stretched out over their combined laps. Rose chuckled a little at Octopus. “It is very sweet that Faelan loves me that much after only spending a month with me. I can’t wait till I can go back and visit I miss my pup.”, Rose sighed. Atif nudged his twin exchanged a smirk at Rose calling Faelan hers.
“Anyways on to business. Donovan you got Kyle safe to his aunt correct? Any issues?”, she asked looking to Donovan. “None. Nice looking ‘ouse his aunt seemed nice enoug’ and wanted ta make sure he was okay. T’ink he’ll be well cared for, gave him mah number just in case anyways.”, Donovan explained. Rose nodded and picked up the briefcase taking Donovan’s watch off tossing it to him. “There so you can travel on your own again.”, Rose said. “T’anks.”, he said catching the watch and putting it back on his left wrist. “So Ah ‘eard our mysterious ‘friends’ aren’t muc’ better dan da bad guys. Atif told me dey ended up killing dose blokes and setting da church on fire ta cover dere tracks. We gunna investigate w’o dey are?”, Donovan asked. “Yes we are going to need to figure out who those two are. I’m going to send the information over to Forge but I doubt they’ll be in his and Landon’s databases but as least this way they’ll get added even if as Jon and Jane Doe. What I also want to check into more are these blank pieces of paper.”, Rose said opening the briefcase taking out the five sheets of blank paper. “Well I stopped at Muir Island before coming here with Donovan and picked up something I thought could be helpful. Donovan hit the lights for me.”, Ashley requested pulling something from her pocket.
Donovan nodded and hit the lights. Ashley flicked on the infrared light she’d brought and took one of the sheets of papers. “I talked to Xavier before coming over, he suggested maybe there was a certain type of ink used and infrared or blacklight could show the information.”, Ashley explained running the light over the page and as she did words in a different language started to appear. “Well it’s obviously some kind of code, they are going to some serious lengths to hide what they are doing. Just not sure what language this is.”, Ashley said grabbing another sheet and repeating the process on all five pages. Everyone each took a page trying to figure out if they recognized the language. “I've got nothing.”, Billy frowned. “Ditto.”, Atif sighed setting his page. “Ah ain’t got a clue.”, Skye sighed. “Nor Ah.”, Donovan said setting his page. “Well that means none of us recognize the language. Who do we know that’s a linguist…”, Rose pondered. Donovan hit the lights again. “Hope!”, Ashley exclaimed. Donovan and Skye looked at their cousin like she was crazy. “‘Ope?”, Donovan asked. “Yes. Hope Summers. She’s at Harvard for linguistics. And if she doesn’t know it I’m sure a professor there will. Or maybe we could ask one of the Mister Howletts they’ve been around long enough they might recognize the language.”, Ashley said. Rose chuckled a little at the thought of her father and uncle deciphering this language for them, not because they probably couldn’t just because it’d be funny.
“Let’s try Hope. Ashley scan the pages and send them over to her ask her for help. CC Forge and Landon too. Maybe they will be able to help as well. We’ll otherwise check the Cambridge library for language books to see if we can find a match ourselves too.”, Rose instructed. “Sounds like a plan.”, Ashley said collecting the five pages. “Atif where’s your printer?”, she asked looking to her brother. “I’ll show you up it's the guest room/office.”, Atif said getting up. Ashley moved Octopus off her lap so he was only half on the couch and half on Skye’s lap as she followed her twin. “Alrig’t so now wat we gunna do bout dose oder two?”, Donovan asked. “The guy had said something about seven people died at the hands of our target. So let’s start digging and researching into any recent murders of seven people in the United Kingdom. The girl’s accent was very cockney but his was more York so it could be anywhere. But it’s at least a clue.”, Rose sighed. Ashley came back down with Atif handing the originals to Rose. “Email sent and I made a copy for me to reference and i’ll see about doing some research between rehearsals.”, Ashley said. “Thanks.”, Rose said taking the pages back. “I’ll see you guys soon. Need to head back though, have rehearsal in an hour actually. And by the way next time we are back home remind me to stop at the institute and give a huge huge to Forge for making these watches they totally rock.”, Ashley commented with a wave before hitting the button on her watch to return home.
“Ah s’ould go back too. Getting some pints wid mah rugby teammates den need ta get some rest before practice in da morning. Bye.”, Donovan said taking his leave pressing the button on his watch. “Ah’ve got a date ta get ready fer especially now dat Ah covered in orange fur.” , Skye chuckled picking Octopus up and getting him off her lap brushing away his fur. “Later all.”, she smiled heading out the front door. “Guess that leaves us. Want to go hit the library then?”, Atif asked standing up. “We can check news for those seven killed and see if we can identify the language.”, Atif offered. “You two go ahead. “I think I’m going to get a nap maybe called Merrick back I don’t know. But leave one of the pages I’ll see about muddling it over.”, she said. “Alright.”, Billy said taking the other pages and heading out the door with Billy. Rose sighed looking at the page with a frown before heading back upstairs. She wanted to talk to Merrick again. But she wasn’t sure if she should try again so soon. She sighed starting up her laptop as she got into her room and smiled seeing he was still online for skype and hit the call. Merrick turned and hit the answer seeing it was Rose, leaning across the bed in the middle of getting dressed. “Twice in a matter of hours. I’m feeling very special this morning.”, he teased leaning back to get dressed not really caring that at the moment he was nude. Rose was about to greet him but her mouth just hung up seeing him fully naked.
“Um.. should I call back?”, she asked. Merrick chuckled and pulled on a pair of boxers. “Nah, just getting dressed. But that better? Less distracting?”, he teased. “Yes much less distracting than getting full frontal. Won’t say better but less distracting.”, she laughed. Merrick smirked. “So how’d your team meeting go?”, he asked glancing over as he went to pull a shirt from the closet. “It went. We were able to figure out what was on the blank papers in the target’s briefcase he’d left at the coffee shop. But they aren’t in a language we recognize. Ashley sent copies to Hope, Forge and Landon and otherwise we are going to do some digging on our end too. Also going to try and figure out who those two mutants are that got involved today. They left us kind of a clue when they said they were after our target because he killed seven.”, Rose explained. “Language you don’t recognize… hmm. Fun code breaking now. Can I look? Or is that too insider information for a neutral Haven member?”, he teased pulling on a pair of jeans. Rose rolled her eyes. “It’s not really insider information. It’s not French, which I know you took in high school so not sure if you’d recognize it either.”, she said getting the page.
“Even if it was French I wouldn’t. I barely passed that class.”, he smirked. “Well rumor was you only passed because you were sleeping with Miss Zimmerman.”, Rose commented. Merrick laughed shaking his head. “Wasn’t sleeping with her. I do have rules and well some integrity. Sleeping with a teacher, especially for a grade violates those. If she chose to pass me because she liked the way I look that I have no control over. You used to wonder why I wore baggy clothes back in the day. Well she was part of the reason.You get oggled less when your clothes don’t show your frame. Now let me look at the page.”, he said wanting to change the subject. Rose laughed a little though it wasn’t funny if he was actually being harassed by their high school French teacher. “Alright well here’s the page.”, she said hold it up to the camera. Merrick leaned a bit closer to look. “That’s Italian little wolf.”, he stated. Rose blinked pulling the page back. “You sure? You know Italian?”, she questioned. “Yes I’m sure. I can’t read Italian. But I know a few phrases. Like Mio Dio, which is ‘My God’. Also know Lupo Cattivo means Big Bad Wolf. Mozzafiato means breathtaking. And Fanculo means fuck. Though when you combine my god and fuck to say my fucking god it’s mio dio cazzo.”, he smirked. Rose shook her head. She couldn’t only imagine where some of those phrases would have come into play and who he probably heard them from. She didn't really want to think about why Zoe had said those things to him.
“Other than lupo cattivo being my nickname those are things Zoe has said in regards to my furniture and stuff I build at the shop.”, Merrick said seeing the look on Rose’s face. It wasn’t a lie she said stuff like that about his furniture but she had also said stuff like that back when they fooled around and he knew mozzafiato because he asked what the word for breathtaking was to call her. However he figured Rose didn’t want to know that. He’d been upfront about having had a more than friend relationship with Zoe before Faelan but he doubted she wanted any details. Rose nodded a little. “Do you think Zoe could translate? Are you going to… see her today?”, she asked. “Didn’t have any plans with her today. But Zoe generally stops by the shop in the afternoon most days if she’s not in class or at work. But email me the pages and I’ll print them out and stop by her place this morning for you.”, he shrugged pulling his black t-shirt over his head. “Alright. Thanks Merrick. Tell Zoe we appreciate the help.”, Rose said getting the saved files from the shared folder that her and the others use for excalibur stuff and thankfully where Ashley had saved the scans whens he emailed them out earlier. “Email has been sent.”, she smiled. “Alright I’ll print them out and stop by Zoe’s see if she can translate for you. But I better get going. Talk to you later little wolf.”, he said pulling up the email and hitting print for the attachments. “Thanks Merrick. Talk to you later.”, she waved ending the chat. She sighed a little moving the laptop off the bed stretching out. “Just what he needed another reason to be around her.”, she frowned closing her eyes trying to not think about that and instead just think about him answering the skype naked and how on their chat earlier he called Faelan theirs.
When Mason and Adder finally got back to London it was late. Adder went straight to the kitchen getting out a beer and slumping onto the sofa. Mason raised an eyebrow and sighed. she’d been like this since he got back from Manchester and he wasn’t sure what was wrong. She didn’t really seem to want to talk about it. He had an idea what was wrong, but he didn’t trust office rumors. But the rumor going around the marketing department Ollie worked in was that Ollie had been fooling around with Genevieve and got caught. Mason had tried to give her space and not ask too much about about where Ollie was or why she wasn’t going out on dates recently. But the sulking needed to end. He walked over and sat down on the sofa next to her. “So you going to finally tell me what’s going on?”, he asked taking the beer from her hand and taking a swig handing it back. “Ain’t notin’ ta tell.”, she answered taking a long gulp from the beer. “Adder come on. Just talk to me. I’ve known you for five years and I know when something isn't right. This about Ollie?”, he asked looking at her. Adder’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Ollie. “Ah said t’ere ain’t notin’ ta talk bout.”, she said finishing off the beer getting up to grab a second.
“Nothing to talk about? Adder you just finished that beer in like three minutes. If something is bothering you, you can talk to me about it. We’re best friends after all. We are partners, we go out that front door and we have to trust each other with our lives. So if something is taking your head out of it I need to know. So what happened with Oliver?”, he asked. Adder sighed walking back in popping the top off a second bottle and taking a long drink before sitting down again. “Notin’ wort’ getting ya involved over mate. Ah ain’t gunna put ya in a position w’ere ya tink ya gotta choose a side between mates. Oliver and Ah aren’t toget’er anymore so notin’ ta tell.”, she sighed. Mason frowned and put an arm around her shoulders hugging her a little. “What you thought if you told me that you two split I’d pick a side?”, he asked. Adder shook her head leaning into him a little. She always found comfort when his arm was around her. “It ain’t t’at.”, she said taking another long swig from the bottle. “Then what is it?”, he asked taking the bottle and grabbing a sip before she could finish it off. “It’s ‘ow we split.”, she sighed taking the bottle back and taking another sip.

“So talk to me. What happened?”, he asked. Adder sighed, she didn’t like even thinking about it. Oliver had been her first boyfriend and then some. So it hurt still that he’d cheated like that and had thought she’d have cheated with Mason. She looked at Mason from the corner of her eyes and frowned, maybe Oliver had a point if Mason ever expressed verbally or physically he wanted her she wasn’t sure being with someone or not would have stopped her. “He...well he c’eated.”, Adder finally said. "What exactly was his excuse? They always have some excuse why they cheated.", Mason questioned. She sighed and finished off her beer. "T’at all t’e times Ah left, w’en yer secretary would call durin' a fight. He t’oug’t Ah was c’eatin' wit’ ya.", she explained getting up wanting another drink. "What? We're mates never been more. He actually thought the two of us together? He seriously thought either of us would do that to him? Apparently someone hasn’t been paying attention to the type of bloke I've been since primary school. Or the type of bird you are.", Mason said a bit outraged at this. He had been told Ollie cheated through the rumor mill but he hadn’t been told that his excuse was thinking that Adder was cheating with him.

"He knows we weren't, said he was sorry. But Ah'm not goin' back.", she said walking back with her third beer. "Nor should you. Cheaters don't change. I'm sorry Adder.", he sighed. he felt partially to blame. It was him who always kept her from spending more time with Ollie. Maybe it was a subconscious thing, but ultimately he only wanted Adder to be happy. "It wasn't ya. He didn't trust me, mate.", she sighed taking a long swig of her beer. "Yeah but I didn't need to call if you were out. No matter what the situation or stakes were.", Mason frowned taking the beer for another sip. She shook her head. "Ah'm yer teammate. My place is protectin ya.", she said taking the beer back for another long swig. "Not at this kind of cost though. What we do... it shouldn't cost either of us happiness.", he shook his head. "Mate, please don't get down. He was mah first man, but Ah'll get over it.", Adder sighed softly. "Yeah I suppose. Guess he set the bar low for future prospects to be better. Still can't believe someone who's been one of my mates since primary school could think I'd ever be someone's side guy. Or that you and I'd ever... We're not like that. Not sure what'd give him that notion.", shaking his head taking the beer back from her and shaking it about to take a sip. "You drank the rest of our beer." , he pouted. He wasn’t really upset about there not being anymore beer but that this meant she’d drank three beers basically on her own.
"Yea, mason. Ya made it clear lots o times we're not like t’at, ta everyone.", she said softly. She stood up and grabbed the empty bottle. "Ah'll bring us out some more.", she said heading to the kitchen. "I just don't get why people like to think it. As if two people of opposite genders can't have a functioning platonic relationship. Yeah we're close. I'm close to Ashton too but people don't assume we're gay.", he sighed shaking his head. She walked out of the kitchen and handed him a beer, sitting down and opening hers to take a healthy drink from it. "No idea, mate.", she shrugged. "Hey kind of think you’ve had your limit drinking three basically by yourself", he said taking her beer setting his unopened down drinking from the open. "People I think just like to gossip. They want there to be something so they can find faults in others and not feel as bad about themselves. Yes took some psychology courses as electives.", he chuckled. Adder sighed and glared a bit as he took the bottle. "Mason. Ah'm goin ta bed, Goodnig’t.", she stood up starting to head to her room. She just... Couldn't right now with him. Mason frowned a little. "Alright. Night Leah.", he sighed. She just sighed as she walked away, not saying anything else. Mason sighed. "And you're an unhelpful git.", he muttered to himself finishing the newly opened beer before tossing the bottle and putting the unopened back before going to his room.
It was later in the day that Rose got an email from Merrick with the attachment of the translated pages from Zoe. She looked at the email first smiling reading what he wrote. “Hey Little Wolf. So dropped the pages off with Zoe this morning before work. She was happy to help you out. Picked up the attached translations on lunch. The sixth attached picture is from lunch. Had Faelan with me and Zoe made spaghetti alla norma. Just look at the picture it was too damn cute. From what she translated looks like these guys had plans for hitting different businesses and individual homes in different areas of the UK. Looks like each page is for different areas of the country. Southern England, Wales, Northern England, Southern Scotland, and Northern Scotland respectfully. I don’t know if you six can really stretch that far to handle it. And I know you aren’t exactly on speaking terms with your old headmaster… but you might want to reach out and get X-Men help. Anyways just stay safe alright, kind of like you in one piece. Miss you. Skype you later so you can finally talk to Faelan. Yours, Merrick.”, she read aloud in her bedroom. “Yours…..”, she repeated with a smile. She opened the picture first and laughed at the spaghetti covered Faelan smiling living sauce of his face. She then opened the attachments and looked over the translations. He was right this wasn’t going to be easy or something they could handle on their own. She’d have to talk to the team and see how they felt about getting help from the X-Men on this.