"Shit," Hank swore, and a moment later there was a loud bang.

Iris pushed off her chair and ran around the corner of the lab to check if he was alright, stopping short when she saw him. He was holding a smoking test tube in one hand, and another one on the table had dark smoke billowing out of it. His face was covered in ash, and his hair was poking in all directions. His glasses were completely blacked out.

Iris burst out laughing at the sight of it.

"This isn't funny," Hank grumbled, but she kept laughing.

"You... look..." She tried to catch her breath, "You look like a mad scientist. You've finally become a mad scientist. Your lifelong dream has been fulfilled."

He took off his glasses, which left an outline on his face and caused him to look even more comical. Iris snorted, "If you could see yourself right now."

"Show me," Hank muttered bitterly. She raised her hand, procuring the hilarious image for him to see. He groaned, but a smile had formed on his face.

Iris let the image fade and walked towards the sink, "I'll get you a cloth, hang on a second."

She ran a cloth under the cold tap and walked towards him, passing it to him while still trying to suppress a smile.

"What were you trying to make, anyway?"

Hank sighed as he wiped the dirt away from his cheeks, "I knew it wasn't going to work. I don't even know why I tried. I was testing a new fuel for the plane – one that would last for a longer time."

Iris shook her head with a smile and glanced away. Over the past few days she had spent more time in the lab than ever helping Hank with experiments and research. It had been her idea of a distraction from everything that had happened several nights ago. Hank didn't ask questions, so it was a good setup.

She knew that Charles had noticed her increased absence, although he hadn't said anything about it directly. Of course, she had still been teaching lessons and helping students, but her free time which she usually spent in either her or Charles' study had been given up to Hank instead. She wanted to be busy to keep herself distracted from her thoughts.

"Hank?"

Charles called from the corridor outside the lab. The door slid open, and Iris shouted, "You wouldn't believe what Hank just did. It was the funniest thing-" She stopped as she began to laugh again, and Hank elbowed her in the ribs.

Charles smirked, waiting for her to get to the point. She didn't bother trying to explain it, and instead showed him the image. Charles chuckled, "Now that is an image to behold."

"You'll never live this down, Hank," Iris muttered as she walked towards Charles and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Shouldn't you be teaching a lesson?" She asked, leaning back, and he nodded.

"I am. Sort of. I need you to come upstairs to the front entrance. Everyone's up there." He smiled softly, causing Iris to frown.

"And why do you need me to come upstairs? Is one of the students going to experiment something on me?" She asked in mock fear. Charles just shook his head with a smile, "Please just come up with me – you too, Hank."

Five minutes later Iris was standing at the entrance, in front of all the students with Charles and a slightly less-dishevelled Hank beside her.

"Are you all willing to be part of an experiment?" Charles asked, and the students all looked at him hesitantly. He assured them, "It's nothing dangerous."

"I'd prefer dangerous," Danny called out, and everybody laughed.

"Miss. Miracle is going to perform the experiment. I want all of you to clear your minds."

Iris spun around and stared at Charles, "What's going on?"

He gently touched his temple, Show everybody their favourite memory. Let them re-live it.

She began to shake her head, and every fear from the other night rose like bile in her throat.

You won't hurt them.

"What if-" She started, but allowed him to read her thoughts instead.

What if something goes wrong? She asked.

It wouldn't. You have a lot of control, Charles replied with a smile.

She gulped, I've never done it on a group of people this big before-

"I believe in you." He said out loud, brushing her hand discreetly.

The process of training Iris to use her powers had been a long and painful one. The lingering fear of what she had almost done to Erik in front of the White House had held her back for so long, and no matter how much Charles had tried to comfort her, she had still struggled to use it.

To use it now, on the students at the school - the thought of making a mistake was horrifying, especially when the image of their dead bodies from her nightmare was so clear in her mind.

Slowly, she turned to look at the young faces all staring at her in confusion and wonder. She hesitated, "Everyone, I want you all to close your eyes. And only open them when I tell you to."

Every single one of the students closed their eyes without a second's hesitation, and Iris' heart swelled with the realisation that they all trusted her. If they trusted her, surely she could trust herself.

She closed her eyes herself and allowed her mind to mingle with everyone else's around her. She could ­feel the memories that they had built up over time.

She was going to set them free. She raised her hand towards them all, and felt the memories forming.

"Open your eyes," She told them, and before she opened her own eyes, she heard murmurs of amazement.

Iris watched the students. They all appeared to be standing on the grass in front of her, Charles and Hank- when in fact, each one of them were viewing individual memories.

"Did you see that dog?" Someone asked, and the student next to them frowned in confusion, "What are you talking about? I'm at a beach."

With a smile, Iris lowered her hand and the students blinked up at her as the memories faded.

Charles chuckled, "What Miss. Miracle here just did is show you your favourite memories. Each and every one of you re-lived that memory- it felt almost real, didn't it?"

The students nodded with smiles on their faces, and Charles clapped his hands, "Thank you everybody! That's all we need you for! Lesson dismissed early."

Some of the students started to walk back into the school, while the others turned and ran further outside to play.

Iris turned around to face Charles and Hank, her eyes bright. She leapt forwards and hugged Hank as he laughed into her hair.

"You did good," He told her, "Remember when you didn't even know what your power was? When Charles had to unlock it for you? Look at you now."

She pulled away and glanced over at Charles, "There's probably still some things I need to work on. Don't get cocky yet, Hank."

He chuckled, turning back towards the school with a wave, "I'm going back to the lab. See you guys later."

"If we don't see you for dinner, I'll assume you've blown yourself up!" Iris called out after him, and he made a rude gesture at her.

"Well, Miss. Miracle," Charles reached out and took hold of her hand, "I feel like we should really take advantage of this weather, don't you? Do you fancy a picnic?"

"Oh, Mr. Xavier, you still surprise me."

*

Iris walked behind Charles as she pushed him towards a large tree by the lake. The majority of the students were on the other side of the mansion, so they had a bit of privacy and time to themselves.

They stopped, and Iris started to pull items out of the bag she had hurriedly packed. She had everything except-

"Damn."

"What did you forget?" Charles asked, and she sighed, "The bloody picnic blanket."

He chuckled, "Well if we want this to be real picnic, we'll need one. Dream one up for us."

Iris rolled her eyes, hitting Charles' shoulder, "Come on, I'll just go and get one-"

"You can do it," Charles raised an eyebrow, and his blue eyes were sincere, "Remember a picnic blanket. Then look at this patch of grass beneath the tree. Merge them together."

Iris watched him for a moment, before rolling her eyes and remembering the red and white checked picnic blanket that they owned back at the mansion. She raised her hand for a moment, and the area around them flickered for just a second before the picnic blanket appeared in front of them.

"Perfect," Charles grinned, pushing himself out of the wheelchair and onto the imaginary rug, "It's a real picnic now."

"It's not even a real blanket," Iris muttered, "We'll still get grass stains on our clothes."

"Nothing a quick spin in the washing machine won't get rid of," Charles smirked, grabbing onto her hand and pulling her down beside him where he leant against the tree.

She turned to face him, and couldn't help but observe how gorgeous his soft brown hair looked in the sunlight.

"Thank you for doing what you did," She murmured, "I feel like you gave my confidence back to me."

"You did it all yourself," The sunlight reflected off of his bright blue eyes, "All I did was encourage you."

The closeness of their faces caused Iris' heart to flutter slightly, and she brought her lips down on his softly.

She had kissed him so many times, and yet each kiss felt just as beautiful as the last.

"I love you," Charles breathed against her lips, "Have I told you that before?"

"You have," Iris laughed, "But feel free to remind me at regular intervals, just to keep me on my toes."

He kissed her again, more hungrily than he had before, and Iris had to put her hand down on the floor between them to stop herself from falling backwards.

She froze.

"What is it?" Charles immediately sensed her panic and pulled away.

Iris gulped. The image of the rug that she had projected onto the grass beneath them was only an image- it wasn't supposed to be real. Iris had expected to feel the grass still beneath her fingers.

But instead she felt the soft fabric of the rug.

"The rug's real," Iris whispered, "Feel it, Charles. Touch it."

Slowly, glancing at her worriedly, he reached his hand out and touched the rug beneath them. She watched as his eyes widened.

The two of them sat in silence for what felt like an eternity, unsure of what to say. Eventually, Iris spluttered, "I didn't dream the last ten minutes, right? We definitely forgot the rug, right?"

"Yes." Was all Charles could say.

"We forgot the rug," Iris spoke slowly, "And I projected this one for us both, and then it became real."

Charles met her gaze, "Yes."

There was another moment of silence.

"Jesus, Charles, say something!" Iris blurted out, "I just touched something that was meant to be a telepathic projection and its become real – say something!"

Finally, Charles spoke, "Just when I thought we'd managed to understand your abilities, something new came along. You just created a rug... from nothing."

Iris felt herself beginning to panic. Charles winced, as he always did when Iris accidentally projected her thoughts when she was scared or upset.

"Hey, don't be scared. We now have something else to work with, Iris. We're still learning about everything that you can do," After a pause, he smiled gently, "You're wonderful."

The words were enough to calm her down, to allow her to breathe properly. Charles reached out and stroked her cheek gently, "Every day, Iris Miracle, I am amazed by you. Not just by your mutation or your abilities, but by you. You're more beautiful to me every day. You truly are a miracle. Clearly your lessons with me aren't done just yet. We'll deal with this new ability, just like we've dealt with the others. I promise."

He kissed her softly, and she relaxed against him. After a moment, he reached into the picnic basket and took out a punnet strawberries.

"Are you hungry at all?" He asked, holding one up to her mouth.

"Very," She laughed quietly, opening her mouth and biting off the end of the strawberry. The two of them wordlessly decided in that moment to act as though things were normal. They'd celebrate her achievement for now, and assess their new breakthrough later. That was how they always dealt with her mutation.

Iris just hoped that this time, it was enough.