The group of mutants had settled into a routine around dinnertime. Erik was often the one to prepare food for all of them to eat, and they would eat together around the table in the dining room, sharing stories about training and their abilities. Iris had decided not to share her knowledge of her powers with the others yet, until she'd at least worked out how it could be used as a weapon.

As Iris began to pick up the plates from around the table, Raven grabbed the radio from the corner of the room and began to turn the knobs slowly.

"Let's have a party," Raven smiled devilishly, and the rest of them groaned.

"Not a proper party!" She protested, "I mean now. Let's listen to music and dance the night away."

The room was silent for a moment, and Alex muttered, "Seriously?"

"You know you want to," Raven smirked, flicking the radio on and turning the music up. Iris recognised the song- Don't Break The Heart That Loves You by Connie Francis.

Erik groaned, "I am not dancing."

Sean stood up, "You got any spirits around here, Charles?"

Moira raised her eyebrows carefully, "May I remind you, Sean, that you're underage?"

Iris laughed, and Charles glanced up at her in delight. He revelled in the sound of her laugh that was like music to his ears.

"A few songs," Charles told Raven, "That's it. I'm sure everyone's exhausted from training all day."

Iris quickly darted into the kitchen to dump the plates in the sink before returning to the dining room where Alex was pushing the large table towards the edge to create a dance floor.

"Are we really doing this?" Iris asked with a shake of her head, and Charles appeared behind her.

"Do you have something against dancing, Miss. Miracle?"

"Of course not," She laughed, turning to face him.

"In that case," Charles held his hand out, "Care to join me for a dance?"

Iris stared at him in surprise, her lips parting slightly. After a moment's hesitation, she stepped forwards and took hold of his outstretched hand.

"You do surprise me, Charles," She murmured as he pulled her towards the centre of the room and placed his hand on her waist gently.

"So do you, Iris. It seems we're constantly surprising each other." He whispered into her ear, and she felt her cheeks flush.

They began to move in time to the music, and it felt incredibly natural to move with Charles- their bodies fit together almost effortlessly. She was incredibly conscious of how close they were, but she didn't mind it. He didn't seem to mind it either.

After a few minutes, she finally allowed herself to glance up at his face. He was smiling, his blue eyes trained on her own as he did so. He was so incredibly beautiful, and Iris found herself not wanting to look away from him. He didn't seem to be looking away either, and a moment later his gaze flickered down from her eyes to her lips. Her heart jolted in her chest slightly, but she tried not to show it. She didn't want to break the moment- not when it felt so perfect to her.

His eyes flicked back up to meet hers again, and she was sure that his face moved an inch closer to hers-

The room fell silent. The music had stopped, and everyone else had stopped dancing. Iris and Charles seemed to spring apart slightly, avoiding each others' gazes as they did so. Hank picked up the radio and glanced at it in confusion.

"I think it's run out of power. Do you have any other radios, Charles?"

Charles seemed to take a moment to respond, and his voice was thick when he spoke, "No... I don't believe I do."

"Just as well," Moira quipped, "We all need to get proper sleep. I'll see you all in the morning."

She was out of the door before anyone could say anything, and Sean groaned.

"I was having fun!"

"Well," Charles cleared his throat, "I'd say we all were. But I think that Moira is right. Training is a priority for us at the moment. We can't stray from that now."

Iris' mind was whirring, and she barely registered as the other mutants filed out of the room. Soon, it was just her and Charles standing there.

"Well," He murmured, "You need to rest your mind, don't you? For tomorrow- you said there's more to your power than you've shown me so far. We don't want to overstrain your mind."

A small laugh escaped Iris' mouth, and she stepped towards the door, "Yes. I almost forgot about that for a moment."

"Oh, really?" Charles followed close behind her, his hand resting on the small of her back, "What made that happen?"

"It seems that dancing is quite the distraction," Iris quipped as she walked up the stairs, and Charles chuckled from behind her.

"Yes. Perhaps we should do more dancing."

She felt her heart jolt again, but she tried not to show it, "That would be nice."

There was a pause as she reached her bedroom door. She glanced up at him shyly, and he was smiling down at her, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Like you said," She whispered as she pushed the door open to her bedroom, "I need to rest my mind. See you in the morning, Charles."

*

It was late afternoon- Iris and Charles had been practising all day in the training room. After a few hours she had managed to maintain images for a much longer period of time. Now, she knew that she needed to show him what else she knew she could do. Although her memories of her time with Shaw were hazy, she could remember one particular aspect of her power which she wanted to test out. She inhaled deeply as she glanced at Charles' smiling face.

"What's your favourite memory? The happiest memory from your childhood? Don't tell me, just think about it."

Charles smirked, "Is it me, or does this sound like a magic trick?"

Iris' mouth twitched into a smile, but she shook her head, "Please, Charles. Just do it."

He nodded, closing his eyes to think about it as Iris reached her hands out and pressed her fingers against his temples gently. She closed her own eyes and took a deep breath, focusing her mind to reach out and grasp onto Charles'.

For the first few seconds, she was just reaching out into nothing- and then she clasped onto something and focused on it more to strengthen her grip.

She could feel his brain ticking inside hers, and although she couldn't read his thoughts she could feel them, working their way into hers and allowing her to create the image that she wanted to show him.

The delighted scream of a child caused Iris to open her eyes, knowing that the illusion was around them.

"Open your eyes," She whispered softly to Charles. He did so, and stared in amazement at the scene around them. Two children, a dark haired boy and a light haired girl, were sprinting around the garden with a kite in their hands, seeing whose could go the highest. Both of them were screeching with laughter as they shouted out how high their kites were.

"How about we join them?" The young boy shouted, sprinting forwards and taking hold of the little girl's hands, "And make the longest kite that this world has ever seen?"

They both giggled again, and Iris smiled as the memory faded, leaving behind nothing but the room around them.

Charles stared at Iris in complete bewilderment, leaning forwards impulsively and brushing his lips against hers softly. Iris hesitated for only a second before pulling his head closer to hers and kissing his sweet, soft lips.

Charles smiled against her mouth, "You're beautiful, Iris. I don't know why you ever had any doubts."

Iris rested her forehead against his, "I never knew what I could do. But you helped me. You showed me the way."

He kissed her again softly, and she felt a thrill run down her spine. She deepened the kiss, all thoughts of training disappearing and being replaced by Charles.

"You just can't stop thinking about me, can you?" He murmured, and she burst out laughing involuntarily.

"I'd hope I was thinking about you while I was kissing you, Charles. It would be slightly awkward otherwise, wouldn't it?"

He chuckled as he rubbed his finger gently against the back of her neck, "You're on my mind even when I'm not kissing you."

She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, and she buried her face in the crook of his neck, unsure of what to say in response.

"You don't have to say anything at all," He murmured in her ear.

*

The atmosphere at dinner was extremely different as Charles and Iris walked in with smiles on their faces and sat down on either side of Erik. Hank leant forwards, "Iris, looks like you've got something to tell us."

She grinned, glancing at Charles before nodding quickly, "We've worked out my power."

Without waiting for a response, she looked into Hank's eyes and watched his expression as the table and chairs in front of him faded to reveal a beach with waves gently lapping against the sand.

"Whoa!" Hank stared at Iris in amazement, and she flashed him a grin.

"What?" Alex demanded, and she turned her gaze to him, making him see a patch of trees with a small stream trickling past them. He leapt up in surprise, "How did you do that?" Iris laughed, "It's only an illusion, Alex. You're still in the dining room."

Everyone took it in turns to experience her new-found gift before she finally shook her head, "There's more but... my head hurts too much to show you. Sorry."

A dull ache had formed in the back of her head, but she could feel that if she caused another illusion then the pain would become quite sharp.

Moira was the first to speak, "So what is the other part? How can you use it as a weapon?"

Iris took a deep breath, "I can locate the worst and best memories of those around me and recreate it with an illusion. I managed to show Charles a memory from his childhood earlier-"

She trailed off, remembering the kiss and feeling her cheeks burn as she touched her lips absentmindedly. For a second the room around them changed to the empty training room that she used with Charles, and there were two figures on the floor with their limbs tangled-

The illusion disappeared quickly, and Iris had no time to be embarrassed as she felt a sharp pain in her head. She cried out, and suddenly felt a warm pair of hands wrap around her arms as they pulled her up and out of the room.

"You need to rest. You haven't used your power in years- it's a large strain on your brain." Charles whispered into her ear, guiding her up the stairs towards her bedroom.

He laid her down, and she felt the pain in her head beginning to dull.

"Did anyone see the-"

Charles chuckled, reaching out to stroke her hair gently, "No- just me."

She felt her cheeks burn slowly again, and Charles smiled, "Iris, you are very easily embarrassed."

She laughed and closed her eyes, "I feel more so around you, seeing as you can read my mind."

"I'll try my best not to, although you seem to think very loudly. But for now, just sleep." His lips brushed against hers briefly before he was gone, closing the door softly behind him.