Walking out of the bathroom and suddenly looking to the door when there was a gentle knock, Liesel merely leaned over and opened it. The happy smiling face of Raven looked back at her, "Hello there." Liesel stepped back and allowed her into the room. She had just showered and changed from her running around and training. Truthfully, she needed a good lay down in the bath, her ribs were killing her. She mused that she was running before she could walk. She wasn't healed enough for the pulling strain of shuttling about in a blink of an eye. Not that it stopped her. Oh no, far from it. She had to say she had succeeded in her experiment really. Nodding her head thoughtfully, she also thought she had finished training. What else could she possibly learn now?

Pulling the towel from her head, she rubbed it on her hair and turned to look at Raven. She had taken to sitting in one of the chairs near the fireplace. She was looking at her with that unfaltering smile, truthfully Liesel was starting to get a little worried. It was disconcerting to be smiled at like that and for it not to slip at all. "Are you feeling okay?" Liesel felt like she had to ask.

"Oh yeah, are you?" Raven smiled and nodded quickly while placing her hands on her knees and leaning against them.

Sitting down opposite, Liesel stopped drying her hair and looked at her oddly. "What is the fruit you say for feeling fine?"

"Peachy?" Raven couldn't help but laugh quietly over her confused moment of fruit being used as a saying.

Shaking her head, she flicked her hair over her shoulder and nodded. "I am peachy." Liesel folded the towel up and gestured a hand to her. "What brings you here?" She thought she'd ask instead, hoping she'd get somewhere with this question.

Raven sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I must confess, I am bored. Everyone seems to be off doing something."

"So as a last resort you thought you'd come hunt me out, because you knew I was here and not busy?"

"What? No! No I didn't mean it like that..." Raven trailed off, she was getting stared at by an emotionless expression and hard sharp green eyes before Liesel grinned and laughed.

"I know!"

Raven let out a relieved breath, and even put a hand to her heart thinking she'd offended the German woman for a second. "I also must confess," here Raven's voice dipped and she looked torn between having a giggling moment, and a hesitant serious moment. Liesel didn't quite like the mixture there, with a frown she stood and walked to the bathroom.

"Just spit it out, not literally...I never understood that saying, it is rather disgusting." Liesel said from the bathroom as she hung the towel up to dry.

"Okay, well, all I'm going to say is perhaps next time you decided to have a...a...small romantic moment, make sure there's not a possible audience."

Liesel came marching out of the bathroom, and stared down at Raven with a frown. "Oh, I am sorry..."

Raven laughed and waved a hand. "It is not me who cares really. I find the two of you are a very strange, but rather compatible couple. But Alex decided to make some childish comment, which set Darwin off on the defensive and Sean and I just sat and watched them squabble."

Liesel tilted her head to the side and looked to the window. "His childish comment would go down like a lead balloon." She moved over to the window and sat down on the seat. "Just...I don't care for teasing, but that's not to say we both pay no mind." She smiled and looked back to Raven. "Mocking and Erik is a very thin line. It's a very thin and dangerous line." Liesel shrugged and let that sentence hang for a few moments, Raven smiled and nodded understanding completely it seemed. "Now! I get the feeling you've also come up here to finally recruit me for helping you with dinner."

"You caught me out!" Raven laughed and jumped to a stand.

"Perhaps I am secretly telepathic?"

"Ah, no! Not another one!" Raven swatted Liesel's hands away when she wiggled her fingers and gestured to her temples. Raven probably would've defended the joking at her brother's expense, if it weren't for Liesel being really quite accurate.

"Come on," Liesel crossed her arms over her navy jumper and moved towards the door. "Dinner certainly isn't going to sort itself out, is it? And I do not quite trust Alex to deal with it."

"He'd probably try and drag Darwin to help." Raven mused with a small nod as they made their way down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

"We could drag Darwin to help." Liesel's eyes narrowed while she slowly smiled. "The more help, the quicker this'll get done. Plus, we need someone to set the table!"

"You've got a point there," Raven nodded and noticing the two other males left behind, she walked over. Placing a hand on each of their shoulders she looked between them. "Darwin, would you please set the table? Alex, just go watch television or something." Raven turned before either could really answer her.

Liesel moved away from the door frame with a smile. "Nicely done."

"Why thank you, I try." Raven smiled too as they finally moved towards the kitchen. Upon opening the door they were confronted with Moira raiding the cupboards and making a small mound of ingredients to use for whatever she was trying to concoct.

"Oh hey you two, care to help?" The brunette smiled at the two as they stood slightly dumbfounded. Moira frowned slowly and looked bemused, "Hey, you two okay?" Slowly she got nods and replies from them before they finally moved into the room and took to helping her out. Moira hadn't got anything else to do for the mean time, so she thought she would take up the dinner duty, not knowing that Raven and Liesel had that covered. Three was better than one, or even two. And with Darwin's table laying skills, they'd get this all together quickly and efficiently.

Or rather, they thought they would until Darwin peered around the door. "Hey, Alex says there's something on the television for us to see." This caused the three to look puzzled before following the tall male back down towards the living room. It seemed Alex had managed to call in Charles, Hank, Erik and Sean too because they were either seated or standing about the room. Liesel naturally went to stand beside Erik, he quickly glanced at her before looking back to the screen where the image of the President sat, unwavering gaze fixed at the camera as he spoke.

"It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.-" the volume got turned down by Erik, who seemed to be in control of the remote. His other hand had been rather promptly gripped onto by Liesel. Everything about this speech had set her off. She needed something to root herself to the here and now, and that something just so happened to be the male beside her.

"That's where we're going to find Shaw." Erik said while roughly waving the remote at the muted screen. Even without the volume, the image's mouth continued to move; no doubt retelling more information and words of reassurance.

"How do you know?" Alex leaned past Raven and looked to Erik with a frown. He crossed his arms and waited for a reply.

"Two super powers facing off, and he wants to start World War Three. He won't leave anything to chance." Charles responded instead while his fixated gaze turned for the slightest second from the television screen before him to the others in the room.

"So much for diplomacy." Was Erik's apparent immediate response in a smug tone. Liesel looked at him with a frown. He merely raised an eyebrow, as if she was going to contradict what he just said.

"All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts." Liesel recited while tearing her eyes away from the television screen and its mute but still speaking images. She looked to the side as Raven and Alex looked at her worriedly, she smiled awkwardly. "Sorry..." Though she believed that if anything summed up their moment, Shakespeare would succeed in doing the job.

"I suggest you all get a good night's sleep." Erik said after a few moments of silence, he managed to get his hand free of Liesel's and walked off and out of the room.

----

Liesel strolled out of her room, much later. After the President's speech, everyone just sort of drifted apart. It was like everyone needed to fully think on what was spoken, and what was to be undertaken. More so now than ever. The finality and the seriousness of why they were all here had finally sunk in. "Hank? What's wrong?" The tall brunette had almost barrelled into her with his rushing pace, she looked confused, she didn't know what could've made Hank take off in such a way.

"Nothing, Liesel!" Hank replied shortly while running down the stairs and away from her. Well, she was rather sure he was just running to his room, which was on the ground floor. But he didn't seem to pay her any attention, or rather he didn't look at her once since shortly exclaiming at her.

Liesel blinked confused, not once had Hank ever been like that to her. It caused her to double take, looking to the side she stepped closer to the room which the door was slightly ajar to. "Have you two had a squabble over your secret project?"

"Liesel!"

"Hello," she smiled apologetically. She didn't after all mean to make Raven jump. She was sitting deep in thought and hearing her voice pulled her back to reality. "You two okay?"

"I...we...I don't know."

With a gentle sigh, Liesel gestured to the empty chair opposite to Raven, getting the hint the blonde nodded and waved her over. Shutting the door behind herself, Liesel promptly sat down with a quiet sigh, teenagers really were confusing. "Hm," Liesel leaned forwards and plucked a syringe up from the arm of Raven's chair. Turning it over, she eyed up the content with a sceptical eye. Flicking her gaze to Raven, she merely looked at her for answers. "Your secret project involves drugs?"

"It's not like that...it's...." Raven trailed off trying to think of the way Hank described it. "It's like an antibiotic. It'll attack the cells which cause our physical mutation. Our abilities won't be affected...just our appearances..."

Liesel clicked her tongue. "Idiotic." Raven snapped her head and gaze up to look at her. She had taken to staring sadly down at the floor while explaining this. "It is all idiotic."

"You would think that?" Raven looked slightly hurt by Liesel's bluntly spoken words. She shifted in the chair and looked at her questionably.

"Why? Because I don't know what it is like to hide? To be afraid of everyone? Oh...oh you have no idea." Liesel said bitterly while placing the syringe down on the small coffee table between their chairs. She narrowed her eyes at Raven, "There is nothing in this world which will change you." Liesel looked away and to the roaring fire in the hearth. She watched the flickering flames for a moment before sighing and shaking her head, she shut her eyes and just sat in silence thinking for a moment. "When I was a child, I had a friend. Her name was Wilhelmina, I honestly thought I would be friends with her forever, you know? And then because I was Jewish, her parents forbade her seeing me. Religion isn't a disease because a madman says so. Nor is having an obvious mutation." Liesel paused to look to Raven with a small rather sad smile. "I was segregated at school, I was segregated outside of school, and we still managed to sneakily see each other. Her parents eventually became sympathisers. Or, I believed they had when Wilhelmina told me to tell my father that her family would hide us and keep us safe. No sooner had we arrived at their home, were we captured. We were shoved onto a train, and then we were separated at the gates of Auschwitz. I never saw my father again, and because Gretchen was my rather human twin, we were a medical mystery and of interest to one Doctor Klaus Schmidt. You may know him better as Sebastian Shaw. Believe me when I say...you are talking to one of two people who truly know what it means to hide away and be fearful of people. You won't get anything from Erik, but if I can help with relating; then I shall." Liesel explained while turning in her seat and looking to Raven, who looked close to crying after listening to her speaking. "Trust me when I say...you are who you are..." Liesel's eyes flicked to the window and narrowed in thought to the city so close. "The people will always be afraid of what they don't understand. They will hate us, yes, I'm sorry...I can't say otherwise. I've had a bad past with people, and they've always ended up disliking me for some such reason. Accept who you are, Raven. Because you are brilliant. You are smart, you are beautiful, and you can do anything you wanted if you put your mind to it. Becoming normal...why would you want to do that when you are so spectacular?" Liesel asked with a smile and a tilt of the head. "Ah, it is getting late, no? I shouldn't stay and ramble away, keeping you up." Liesel smiled and laughed quietly while standing up slowly. With a gentle sigh, she nodded slowly and looked down at Raven. "You won't do it."

"How do you know?" Raven asked in a quiet voice while looking at her.

Liesel smiled and turned towards the door. "If you wanted to do it, you would've even before I came here." She put a hand on the door handle and opened the door slowly. "Stay as you are. Once you lose yourself, your identity, then what are you?" She questioned from over her shoulder while smiling one last time at Raven before leaving the room.

With another sigh, Liesel hung her head and trudged back to her room. Dipping around the door she plucked the light bulb from a dresser top and left again. The corridors were dimly lit, so she walked along inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. She was trying to calm herself down. She had not revealed her past to anyone, but if it got Raven to see sense she couldn't think of a better person to tell it to. Stepping down the stairs slowly, she hummed quietly to herself while lighting the light bulb, and then dimming it again. She was starting to calm down somewhat as she continued on her way, she smiled and nodded at Darwin, Alex and Sean as they seemed to be watching something on the television.

"Care to join us?" Darwin asked while pushing Sean to make room on the sofa for her if she accepted.

Liesel smiled kindly and shook her head. "No, but I thank you. I'm just having a walk to settle some nerves."

"We'll be here a while if you end up getting bored." Sean commented while slouching back in his seat seeing as how Liesel wasn't coming into the room.

"Thank you," Liesel inclined her head and continued onwards. Hearing rather heated words, she shuffled forwards and stuck her head around the door. "Ah...sorry..."

Charles turned in his seat and looked back at her, he wondered why Erik's seriousness had dropped for a moment until he glanced at her form. "Liesel, come in." Charles turned back around and got a narrow eyed look sent at him. "Perhaps you can help us with something."

"If it involves chess, then no. Sorry, I cannot play." Liesel smiled and walked over to them and stood close by.

Charles laughed and shook his head. "Oh no, believe me it doesn't involve this game."

"So?" She waved the light bulb at him as it lit up briefly only to switch off.

"If we stop a war...if we can prevent Shaw and his plans, do you believe we will be subject to backlash?" Charles asked at length, pausing a few times to properly think of how to pose the question. He was more aware to Erik now fully glaring at him as he pulled Liesel into this otherwise private discussion. It was like he was trying, attempting even, to get her to sway to his way of thinking by asking it like that. Charles ignored his intense look and instead concentrated on Liesel as she pondered over the question. Erik even ended up looking away and looked to her, his look didn't lessen though.

"Your family have real people issues." Liesel muttered.

"Excuse me?" Charles asked truly puzzled.

"Nothing." Liesel looked to the floor and fidgeted from foot to foot in thought. "People...people do not like what is different to them. People tend to take things they don't understand, and they destroy them. You shouldn't ask me something like this, Charles. You know I've got a biased outlook..."

"I stick by it: if we risk our lives to save them, would they ever do the same for us?" Erik picked up his earlier train of thought before Liesel's appearance.

"It isn't about point scoring. This isn't a competition between us and them." Charles said with a frown as he looked back to Erik. "We can be the better men."

"And women."

Charles rolled his eyes up to look at Liesel, "And women." He looked back to Erik.

"But we already are," Erik leaned forwards in his chair. "We're the next stage of human evolution. You said it yourself." He stated frankly while Charles seemed to become quite infuriated with his own words being used against him like this.

"No!"

"Are you really so naïve, as to think that they won't battle their own extinction? Or is it arrogance?"

"I'm sorry?" Charles asked rather confused by this turn of words.

Erik sighed gently and looked about the room before looking back to him. "After tomorrow, they're going to turn on us. But you are blind to it, because you believe they're all like Moira." Erik said knowing full well that Charles had a rather soft spot for the female agent. He didn't care really about the bluntly spoke low blow, Charles on the other hand looked at him with hardened eyes.

"You believe they're all like Shaw." He easily countered in an equally blunt tone while staring at the man across from him. Liesel certainly felt rather awkward. She had been forgotten about it seemed and she went to take a step back towards the door only to have her wrist suddenly held onto by Erik. "Listen to me very carefully, my friend. Killing Shaw will not bring you peace." Charles said in an attempt to calm the situation down and return it back to how it was moments ago when they first came in here and commenced playing chess.

"Peace was never an option." Erik said while standing up and moving towards the door while Liesel trailed after him, Charles sent her a rather pitying look. He did feel rather sorry for her being the go to person when in a mood. Liesel got rather rudely pulled along for a while before she got steadily annoyed with it and dug her heels into the floor. Erik faltered and looked back at her with a frown. With a sigh she managed to get her arm free, reaching up she pulled him to her level and simply held him.

Pulling away, she placed a hand to his mouth when he saw he was about to speak. "If you're about to call Charles an idiot, I don't want to hear it. He is a good man. Delusional, but good, yes?" Her words got an eyebrow raised from Erik, yet he didn't mumble anything otherwise. Slowly removing her hand she nodded at him, he could say whatever he wanted now.

"You still agree."

Liesel frowned, "That Shaw needs to die? Yes, of course. I also am still highly suspicious that there are any good people in the world; so yes, I still agree with you." She crossed her arms loosely and continued on her way to her room. "What...you thought some time surrounded by pacifists would change my mind?" She cast a quick glance over her shoulder before opening her door and walking in. "Have some faith in me and my beliefs." Liesel rolled her eyes and waved a hand in the air in thought. "Staying the night by any chance?" Seeing as how he had invited himself in and had taken to sitting next to her on the bed, she felt like it was a slightly stupid question to ask.

"I always have faith in you, Liesel. So don't worry there." Erik said while looking thoughtfully up at the ceiling before smiling at her. "We are going to face Shaw tomorrow," he let that sentence hang in the silence of the room. Liesel looked a little uncertain, but nodded slowly. She was more than ready to face Shaw again, that she was certain of. Erik sat and watched as she really thought over the gravity of this. Slowly she blinked and looked to him. "You really wish to be alone the night before that?"

Liesel smiled slowly, "You're awful." She leaned her head against his shoulder and laughed. "You know that, right?" She looked up at him, and quite easily reached up and placed a hand against the side of his face, and bought him closer.

"Perhaps," Erik replied in a quiet tone much like the one she used. Much like her, he placed a hand to her hair and threaded his fingers into the slightly wavy auburn locks.

"You so don't seem to care." Liesel smiled and couldn't help but laugh quietly.

He frowned and leaned his forehead against hers. "As long as you don't think like that, I quite frankly don't care about anyone else." She simply looked up at him before finally holding onto him when he closed the gap between them, and placed his lips against hers firmly. Liesel let out a sigh when she rather easily fell backwards, while bringing him with her; not that he gave much resistance.

----

Edited: 11/June/2019

Reedited: 19/August/2021