No one should be thrust into those kind of decisions and situations alone and unprepared, Charles murmurs into her mind and brushes his thumb across her smiling cheek. It's good to see her smiling. It's not an every day occurrence.

She leans in to hug him and Charles wraps his arms around her, squeezing her gently, one of his hands moving up to the back of her neck, holding her before he brushes his fingers through her hair. "No, I heard that from Erik, too. I wish I hadn't been brought here but the fact that I can share your vacation makes it slightly better," he laughs and lightly kisses the top of her head. "I'm sorry I disappeared, Jean," he whispers to her. "But I trust that you would be able to deal with all this own your own too. Happily you don't have to do that."

It's really awful of him to think he has a pet student or whatever the kids call it, but Jean has always felt the closest to him because she shares the gift and curse he has. Knowing what everyone else is thinking is definitely not always the blessing that people might think it is. She has the same struggle ahead of her that he did, choosing the kind of person she wants to be. Charles wasn't always so sure of himself, after all.

But he's also spent the most time with her for these exact reasons. It's natural that they'd feel close to each other.

"Tell me," he says when it seems it's not completely misplaced. "What have you been up to here?"