Peter rarely ever got sick, he claimed he could outrun germs. According to Hank almost everything in his body moved fast, including his immune system, meaning that any germs he received would likely be dead before he ever noticed he had caught any. The exceptions were of course for the stronger germs, which made people really sick. And for Peter, those times were even worse than for most, because he wasn't used to being sick at all.

It was on a quiet afternoon in February when Peter was running through the danger room. It was a weekly thing where Hank would sit behind some big control panel and measure Peter's speed. Over the past few weeks Peter had steadily begun to run faster and faster. So the first sign of trouble was when Hank realized Peter was running slower than he had been about a month ago. Sure, that was still incredibly fast, but something didn't seem right. The second sign was Peter stopping before the set time of 10 minutes, covered in sweat. He was never exhausted after running and never broke a sweat either. The third, and most obvious sign, was when Peter collapsed onto the floor coughing. Hank quickly jumped up from his panel and ran towards him. By the time he had reached Peter's side, he was already unconscious. Hank sighed.

'This can't be good.' He picked Peter up and brought him to the Medical room they had set up a while ago. With so many mutants with dangerous powers, and the X-men going on missions more often, having an infirmary seemed like a good idea. It took Hank only about 15 minutes to figure out what was wrong with Peter; a very nasty flu. A normal human would probably be stuck with it for about 3 weeks. For Peter it would likely mean only one week. But it would a week of hell for him. He sighed again and walked through the house looking for Erik.

The professor had at some point, somehow (even though no one knows how he actually did it) convinced Erik to start teaching German and French to the students. Although Erik wasn't particularly fond of large groups of people and quite impatient as well. But he felt it was probably a good idea for the students to know some languages, and so he had given in. Classes had just ended and Hank found Erik sitting behind the desk in one of the classrooms.

'Erik.' He said as he walked into the room.

'Hank, what can I do for you?' Erik answered, without looking up from the stack of papers in his hand.

Hank took a deep breath, knowing that the conversation was not likely to be a pleasant one. 'Peter's sick.'

The older mutant quickly looked up from his papers and at Hank's face, trying to find any sign of it being a joke. He should of course have known better. Hank was never one for practical jokes, and definitely not about other people's health. 'How bad is it?' Erik asked as he stood up and walked towards Hank.

'It's a pretty nasty flu. He fell unconscious after running for only 2 minutes. It's probably gonna be a week before he's back on his feet, and he should probably stay in bed most of the time. His heart rate's up, even for his standards and he's got a fever of 105.'

Erik sighed, sure the flu was not lethal, but his son was sick, and that was enough to get him worried.

'Does he need to stay in the infirmary? Or can he go up to his own room?'

'He doesn't need to stay in the infirmary. It's not that bad.'

And so it was that Peter woke up in his own bed about 3 hours later. His head pounded and his eyes couldn't adjust to the bright light in the room. He felt like he was freezing, and yet was warm at the same time. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this awful.

'Peter... you're awake...'

Peter groaned, hiding his head below his blanket. 'What the hell is wrong with me?'

Erik sat on the side of Peter's bed. If it weren't for the situation he would probably have found his son's behavior amusing. 'You collapsed after your training run. You've got the flu, Peter, and a rather strong version of it.'

Another muffled groan. Erik slightly pulled at the blanket, and Peter let it fall down. 'How long am I going to feel like this?'

'Probably a week.'

A sigh this time. 'Bloody hell.'

'Don't worry, Peter. You'll be alright. Now get some more sleep. I'll be back with some food later.'

Peter nodded and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep. Erik silently left the room, hoping not to wake him. Just as he closed the door behind him Mystique showed up in front of him.

'Do you always sneak up on your friends like that?'

Mystique didn't look happy.

'Peter's mom's on the phone downstairs, and apparently it is very important to her to talk to him. Now I am not going to be the one that tells her that her dear son is sick.'

'And I should be?!' Erik asked, annoyed that this problem was now made his problem. 'The woman hates me, and I do not want to give her more reason to do so.'

'Well to bad, daddio. Because I'm not going to tell her and someone needs to.' With that Mystique walked away. Erik had been calling her Raven again lately as she seemed to prefer that now. But it was definitely Mystique that ganged up on him and not Raven. With a heavy heart he walked down the stairs to the phone and picked it up from the table on which it was resting.

'Hello...' he whispered.

'Well, finally! For someone who moves so fast Peter, this sure took you long enough.'

Erik wanted to interrupt, tell her that he wasn't Peter, but she already started talking again.

'Peter, you're grandfather's 80th birthday is coming up and he really wants you to come by for it. I know you don't like those parties because you have to hide your powers, but it's 80th birthday, and he'll be gravely disappointed in you if you don't.'

'Marya... I'm not Peter.' Erik finally managed to say. He imagined that on the other end, Marya nearly dropped the phone.

'Erik!?' She yelled. 'Erik is that you?!' a short gasp. 'Where is Peter?! Why didn't he answer the phone?!'

As always, Marya was constantly worried about her loved ones, some things would never change.

'He's sick, Marya. He caught the flu.'

Silence.

'Peter never gets sick...'

'It's a quite resistant version, and he is feeling quite miserable for it. But don't worry, he'll be fine. We'll take good care of him, and I'll let him know you called, ask him to call you back as soon as possible. Alright?' And then Erik hung up. He had still not gathered the courage to talk to Marya, and this was not the right time. And so he did as he promised and brought up some food to Peter. Spent most of the evening by his son's side, keeping him company in the moments he was awake. And went to bed early, expecting that would probably be the one to take care of Peter most of the time.

The next day around 2 in the afternoon the doorbell rang and Hank opened the door to a woman probably midway in her forties, but still pretty. She had dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes and in her hand was a carry-on bag.

'Can I help you?' Hank asked.

'I was informed yesterday that my son is sick, I came by to see how he's doing.' The woman answered, and Hank looked confused.

'Alright...' Hank said as he let the woman inside and closed the door behind her. 'If you don't mind following me. I would like to check this with the professor. We might be a school, but we can't just let every family member waltz in at every time.'

The woman nodded and followed Hank down the hall to the professor's office.

'Professor.' Hank said as he walked into the office. 'I would like to introduce you to...' Hank looked at the woman, suddenly aware that he did not know her name.

The woman walked towards the professor and shook his hand. 'Marya Maximoff. We actually met about 10 years ago when you came to get Peter.'

'Of course. I'm assuming you are here because Peter is unwell?' The professor asked.

'Yes, indeed.' She smiled slightly. 'I know it seems silly. It's only the flu. But all I have in my life is my children, and Peter never gets sick. The few times he does, it's usually pretty bad, and I just want to make sure that he is okay.'

'Believe me, Miss Maximoff, I completely understand. I would gladly show you to Peter's room.'

The professor left the room, followed by Marya, and made their way to the first floor of the mansion. The professor stopped right in front the door.

'Miss Maximoff... From what I have heard you and Erik have not spoken in quite some time, and are not on the best of terms. The chance is however quite high that you will run into him while you're here. Either now in that room, or at any given time while you are here.'

Marya nodded. 'I am aware of that, Professor Xavier. But my concern for Peter is bigger than my wish not to see Erik again. So let's just do this.'

They went inside the room, and found only Peter sleeping in his bed. His skin looked paler than it usually did, and there was sweat on the young man's forehead. All the curtains in the room were closed, keeping out the bright sunlight. Marya quickly moved towards the bed and sat down on the edge. She gently brushed some of Peter's hair out of his face and tucked it behind his.

'Hi mom...' Peter mumbled and his eyes slowly opened.

Marya smiled. 'Hi sweetheart. How are you feeling?'

Peter scoffed slightly. 'Crap.' He looked up at his mom. 'Why did you come all the way over here?'

She gently stroked his cheek. 'Because your father told me you had the flu and as I usually do, I got overly worried. I also just missed you and thought this was good excuse to stop by.'

Peter smiled. 'I missed you, too.' His face then changed slightly, showing concern. 'Did you leave Claire all alone?'

'Of course not. She's with your grandparents, she'll be fine.'

Peter smiled again. 'Okay.' he mumbled, and slowly his eyes closed again and he fell asleep.

Marya decided to stay the week and take care of Peter while she was there. So far she had managed to avoid Erik on the first two days, but on the thirds day, her luck changed and she ran into the man she had hoped to never see again.

'Marya...'

She looked up from her phone. 'Hi Erik...'

He smiled gently at her. 'I know that there is a lot that happened between us. And although today is not the day for it, if you will allow it, I would very much like to talk through that someday.'

He could see Marya holding back tears, and so he took a slight step back giving her some space. 'I know you are here because of Peter, not because of me. And if it makes you feel more comfortable, I'll keep my distance over the next few days.'

She nodded slightly, and Erik nodded back, a sad smile appearing on his face. 'Alright.' He slowly walked past her, leaving her with her thoughts, but halted a few feet away. 'By the way, you still look as lovely as I remember.' And quickly he continues his walk. Marya smiled down at the remark, unable to hide the feelings she still had for him. She shook her head, trying to push her thoughts away and walked into Peter's room. As she walked in, she found him sitting up in his bed for the first time in the days she'd been there.

'Buna Mama' He said with a smile as she sat down next to him, and took his hand in hers.

'You know... I'm glad you are creating a bond with your father... I might still be mad at him, but I know it means the world to him that you are here.'

Peter didn't really listen to the rest of whathis mom had to say anymore. But hearing his mom say that about his dad, madehim feel much better. And even though he still wasn't allowed out of bed,thanks to Hank, he felt happy.