~~~~It had finally come. The war Magneto had promised had come to pass and it arrived with the force of a F5 tornado ripping apart everything in it's path. Magneto had been ready for it. Fortunately, so had Xavier. The X-men fought both against and with the Brotherhood. They fought both against and with the pure humans who alternately despised and depended upon them but in the end the pure humans turned against them altogether and the Mutants who could went into hiding. Those unlucky enough to be unable to hide what they were we rounded up and like the Jews before them, placed in camps. Then the rest of the world went to hell. The U.S Government collapsed and it was left to the individual states to decide how they felt about Mutants. Needless to say, most of them felt as they had before and the Mutants stayed in the camps.~~~

Wolverine nodded to Rogue who passed the gesture down the line. They were strung out at forty foot intervals in front of an enormous chain link fence. The internment camp guard shift was about to change over. They had been planning this raid for months, every detail was planned to the nth degree. Wolverine suddenly made a chopping motion and the raid was on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Less than an hour later Logan and his rescue team were huddled in an underground complex tending to the survivors of their carefully planned raid. It had been a success. All forty seven inmates had been retrieved. Logan looked over at Rogue who was tending to a few of the injured. Then his gaze shifted to Donella. She was currently filling water bottles using her mutation, effectively creating pure water from her own body. He cast his mind back to happier days when she hadn't looked so solemn, so torn apart. She looked up at him and he flinched inwardly at her dead blue eyes. She'd never been the same since the FOH came and took Xavier from her by force. She was vehement that Xavier was still alive, that she could feel him in her mind but they hadn't been able to find him in the six years since he'd been captured.

"Ok everyone. We're going to be moving out in half an hour. Be ready." He spoke up.

"Where?" A small voice asked from the huddled group of rescued mutants.

"I'll tell ya when we get closer. We can't chance anyone listening in or following us." He replied.

Rogue finished with the people she was helping and sat next to him. He saw the faint glitter of her suppressant collar under her shirt collar. She had found it in one of the internment camps and after some tinkering Kurt and Hank had managed to tune it specifically to her mutation. She wore it when she had to deal with larger groups of people to prevent accidents. Logan hated it but it made it possible for Rogue to work with people when her gloves tore or the liquid latex ran out.

She leaned against him companionably and he slung an arm around her shoulders. "It went off without a hitch." She said.

"It did." He agreed.

They sat in silence for a a while just enjoying the small joy they'd earned. After a while the stood and started marshaling the demoralized refugees into groups. "Your group will be your traveling companions until we get to our destination." Logan said. "You will be responsible for yourself and your group mates. You will work together and keep each other safe until we get to our destination. I cannot stress this enough people. Your group is your family until we get home. Don't let each other down. If your group is separated from the rest of the groups go to ground and take care of each other until we can come get you."

There were muttered affirmations and a few grumbles but they were quickly suppressed by those refugees who wished to survive. Rogue, Kurt and Storm took the lead. Logan, Hank and Donella brought up the rear to make sure no one got lost. They left the complex and started making their way under cover of darkness North.

Two grueling weeks later the group of rescued mutants and their rescuers finally arrived at their destination. Logan had lead them under cover of night to a warehouse filled with vehicles of almost every description. All of them older models chosen for the ease with which they blended in. He portioned the mutants by traveling group into minivans, SUV's Jeeps and the occasional Ford Taurus. Then they had headed North. They passed through Montana and crossed the Canadian border via a little known park access road. They traveled nonstop switching drivers as needed. Now all that driving had paid off. They were in British Columbia, four hours drive from Juneau Alaska. The Canadian wilderness was the perfect place to build a hiding place for Mutants. Generally thought to be too cold and inhospitable for anyone to live the X-men had built a sanctuary. Not above ground but below it using the considerable skills available to them.

Logan lead the convoy down a hidden ramp and into a huge garage. Jean and Scott were waiting for them. The refugees were simply too tired and too ready to be off the road to object or care where they were. Jean, Scott and a number of former refugees started getting the new arrivals settled. Logan and Rogue retired to their quarters and flopped onto the bed. Logan groaned. "This ain't getting any easier darlin'."

She rolled onto her side and gave him a sweet smile. "But we're making a dent."

He glared up at the ceiling. "Yeah. Sure we are."

She rolled onto her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows to look down at him. "We're making a difference Logan. And soon we won't have to do this anymore." She kissed him softly.

Logan's arms wrapped around her waist and held her firmly as he kissed her back. Eventually the kiss became more hungry and Logan's hands started roaming up under her shirt. She moaned softly as he cupped her breasts. With a small effort Logan rolled both of them until Rogue was underneath his bulk. She slipped her hands between them to unbutton his shirt and Logan growled playfully. It had been a long two weeks on the road.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Donella walked into the bowels of the underground complex that she had helped design. Her heart felt like it was made of stone and weighed heavily in her chest. As she moved deeper into the complex she felt that weight more keenly. She'd designed this particular area for a specific purpose. A purpose that it could no longer fulfill. She stood before the massive doors of the New Cerebro and longed for the doors to swing open reveling the man she'd come to love more deeply than she'd thought possible. They didn't of course and she turned to her left opening the door to the small apartment she'd had built there when the place was being dug from the unforgiving frozen earth. When they'd gone into hiding Xavier had lamented that he never seemed to get any time with her since he was always tracking down another group of lost or captured mutants. When she'd helped design the complex she'd had their apartment built right next door to Cerebro so she could be closer to him. There was even a window that looked into Cerebro so she could watch him while he worked. It was now covered with a tapestry she'd stolen during a rescue.

"I miss you." She whispered to the silent apartment.

She felt the faint fluttering in her mind and knew it was Xavier trying to reach her but as hard as she tried she could never quite clear the pathways to contact him telepathically. She had been frustrated to the point of tears over this early on but had accepted that it was probably for the best. After all, the people who had Xavier were probably looking for them and would probably use any telepathic contact between them to get the information they sought.

She showered, changed and had just started making herself a meal when someone knocked on her door. She opened it and stifled a curse. Jean was standing before her door. Jean and Donella hadn't ever been able to get along. The bickered constantly over the complex design, over the living arrangements, over the food supply. Over Xavier leaving Donella in charge of the daily affairs in his absence and finally over the support given by the X-men to Donella when Jean challenged her authority and validity of Xaviers decree. "Can I help you Jean?"

"Tomorrow is the Anniversary of Haven. We've been working on something special to celebrate it while you were out. We just need your approval." Jean's voice was cold and hostile but she'd learned that when Donella laid down a rule she meant it to be followed.

Donella took the clipboard from Jean and perused the arrangements. "Looks fine to me. Can you maybe change the time from ten to noon? The refugees will need a little more time to adjust before meeting the rest of Haven."

Jean took the clipboard back and made a note. "Fine." She said coolly and left.

Donella closed the door. Xavier had been taken just before Haven had been completed. He'd left her in charge while he and a group of six of the new X-men went via the Blackbird to retrieve a group of stranded Mutants on the Highway. They'd never come back and a retrieval team had found the wreckage of the Blackbird but no bodies.

Donella went back to making her meal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xavier sat in the tiny cell he'd been assigned to waiting for the guards to come get him as they always did at three in the afternoon. It was routine though they did change their routines every few months just for security reasons though the guards didn't seem to think it was necessary. He could feel the drugs they'd give him in his lunch coursing through his veins and he resisted with every ounce of his impressive willpower not to reach out mentally to the one person in all the world he knew would move heaven and earth to rescue him from this torture. That was after all what the FOH wanted.

Despite the FOH's complete hatred of Mutants they were not above using Mutants as weapons to get what they wanted. They were still trying to use Xavier to locate the three hundred or so Mutants who had escaped the interment camps. Mutants Xavier knew had been rescued by the X-men. They also wanted him to find for them the several thousand Mutants in America that had gone to ground. He resisted as he always did but it was becoming increasingly difficult. They drug they were giving him were becoming much stronger. And they'd been giving him larger doses.

Some days they didn't give him any drugs but left him alone in his cell. He couldn't decide if those days were better or worse. Better because they weren't trying to force him into betraying his people but worse because his body had become accustomed to the drugs and he went through withdrawal. Donella had once told him that going through heroine withdrawal had been one of the most miserable experiences of her entire life. She'd said she ached all over, she ran a fever and couldn't eat. 'It was like dieing but without the relief of death.'

He smiled slightly thinking of Donella. Often the image of her bright blue eyes and wild blond hair was the only thing that kept him from blurting out where the Mutants were hiding. He couldn't bear the thought of her being subjected to the kinds of torment he'd witnessed in the FOH's ongoing quest to get him to tell them what they wanted to know. Thinking of Donella made him unconsciously reach out to her. He quickly reigned himself in but not before he got a glimpse of her thoughts. 'I miss you.'

'I miss you too.' He thought as he forced himself to shut himself down.

The door opened and the guard grabbed the handles of his chair and yanked him roughly out into the hall. Xavier took a deep breath and prepared for another grueling afternoon.

Donella and Rogue stood on opposite sides of a ladder hanging decorations while Jubilee directed where the decorations would go. Seemingly in an order understood only to Ms. Jubilation Lee. Rogue huffed a little blowing a few strands of hair from her face. "And just why are we hangin' streamers Jubes? No one's gonna care what the hall looks like. They jus' want the food."

Jubilee snorted. "They may want the food but its not a celebration without decorations."

Rogue snorted again but humored Jubilee. Donella strung a paper lantern up and gave a small smile. "Its festive. I like it."

Rogue smiled over at the woman who had become a fast friend. "It is festive Ah'll give it that. What is this year five of Haven?"

Donella nodded. "Year five and what a five years."

"Yer supposed to make a speech right?" Rogue asked taping streamers to the domed ceiling.

"Yeah. I stayed up late last night working on it."

Donella and Rogue climbed down and looked up at their handiwork then Donella got called over to inspect an ice sculpture Bobby was working on and to chastise Johnny for melting bits of it while Bobby wasn't looking. Rogue watched her friend and reflected that five years ago she'd have never thought Donella would be the take-charge-keep-it-in-order type. Rogue meandered to the kitchen to see if there was anything she could do to help.

At noon The Great hall of the underground complex filled with the refugees and the survivors. The newest arrivals looked around nervously while the long term denizens murmured excitedly amongst themselves waiting for the festivities to begin. Donella stood on a raised platform and cleared her throat.

"Welcome to the Fifth Anniversary of the Mutant Haven Project, known fondly as Haven. I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new comers, may you find peace here in safety. Those who have come before you made this place possible. I would like to remind everyone gathered though that while this is a celebration this is also a time of reflection. I want everyone to reflect upon why Haven was built. Superstition, prejudice and hatred were the reason for our home. This is a place we hope will be a temporary home. A place to be safe until the world is a more accepting place. I would like to observe a moment of silence for those lost in the Cause of Haven."

She bowed her head and everyone followed suit. For a long moment there was silence then she cleared her throat again. "And now I give you the Fifth Anniversary of Haven. And its very own band The Underground!" She stepped aside and the band jumped up onto the platform and began playing their own variations of popular rock.

The crowd broke up and moved off to enjoy the festivities. Donella stood to the side and watched them a small smile playing on her lips.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was too much. He couldn't hold out any longer, between the torture, the drugs and the isolation it was little wonder when Xavier finally snapped. The doctors knew this would happen of course. They were fully prepared and had another telepath, one they had full control of, waiting for the exact moment when Xavier was finally unable to hold out any longer. But even their pet telepath couldn't completely block the agony and screams from everyone's minds. Everyone in the FOH complex doubled over as the pain of nearly six years torture and abuse flowed through their minds. It killed their telepath. It also reached Donella, already psychically linked with Xavier due to their relationship.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Donella had just climbed onstage to announce that the party was over when she felt a burning agony sear through her mind. She clutched at her head. All eyes watched her in concern. She tried to gain control of her mind falling to her knees her body hunched her hands grasping at her hair. Suddenly it became more than she could bear and her back arched as she screamed in a voice that was not just her own. The searing pain filled every part of her mind.

Rogue ran up and grabbed for her trying to keep her from hurting herself. As soon as she touched Donella though the same searing pain filled her mind and she had to let go. Donella screamed until she ran out of breath. She sucked a lungful of air in and screamed again. By now Jean and Scott were evacuating the Great Hall telling everyone to go to their quarters. That they would have an explanation soon. Logan moved towards Donella but didn't touch her. He tried to speak to her but she wouldn't or couldn't hear him. Then as suddenly as the episode had begun it ended and Donella collapsed to the floor in a faint.

Jean approached carefully Donella's screams still ringing in her ears. She carefully placed her hands on either side of Donella's head. She gasped. "The Professor. It wasn't Donella's pain we saw it was his. Years of pain in a flood. Too much and she's connected to him..." She broke off and pulled sharply away from Donella.

"What'd you see?" Rogue asked.

"A medical complex. I don't know where exactly. The Professor in a empty room, he was in agony, mind and body. That's about all I could make out." She replied.

Donella stirred and Rogue leaned over. "Donella? Honey, are you ok?"

"Nevada." Donella croaked. "He's in Nevada. I know where he is." Her voice was raw and she was crying."

Logan lifted her up into his arms, she tried to push him away but the episode had left her weak. "We'll go to Nevada when you've had some rest."

"I can rest on the way." She croaked.

Hank came running in with a medical kit. "Not until Hank has checked you out." Scott said firmly.

Donella tried to glare at him but it lacked any power. She laid back in Logan's arms as Hank inspected her. Her only thought was that whether Charles had meant to or not, she now knew where to find him and no force in the world could stop her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The leader of the FOH surveyed the disaster left in the wake of Xavier's mental collapse. Three of their most promising Technicians were dead from psychic overload. A telepath who'd been carefully cultivated and conditioned was dead, his brain literally boiled in his skull by the force of Xavier's mind and as collateral damage in some kind of psychically induced craze the technicians had destroyed almost half a dozen computers and a lot of expensive equipment before the psychic overload fried their brains and stopped their hearts. He kicked moodily at a shard of glass then gave the now catatonic Xavier a thoughtful look. "This had better bring them to me." He murmured. "Or this will all have been for no good reason."

It took almost a week to get to Nevada. Kurt had managed to call in a favor and gotten them a ride into Nevada on a supposedly decommissioned Learjet. It would remain close by for just under twenty four hours before taking off and they could find their own way home. It was decided during the mission briefing that only the most experienced X-men would risk this mission. And Donella. Though she wasn't as experienced as the rest of the crew going to Nevada she had adamantly refused to be left behind. Storm, Hank, Kurt, Rogue, Cyclops and Jean would be going with Logan and Donella. They drove from British Columbia to a tiny airport in the upper region of Montana and boarded the plane.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Any luck?" Logan's voice made Donella flinch. She was in her air form floating high above Nevada. The rest of the X-Men waited in the cruising Learjet. "If you keep asking me that I'll never be able to get a fix on him." She snapped.

She heard his dark chuckle and the tiny cracking pop that signaled that he had closed the comm. She turned her attention back to her task and reached out with her mind for any trace of Xavier. She couldn't feel him in her mind any longer and that frightened her far more than the roiling agony she'd felt before had. She swooped a little lower and scanned the ground letting tendrils of herself sweep the parched earth of Nevada in July. She couldn't sense him and she was growing desperate. She prayed to any deity that would listen for anything. Just a little help but she was answered only by the hot Nevada wind buffeting her in an effort to make her part of itself.

She spent hours in the air listening, searching and hoping. On the jet Rogue and Storm watched for her reappearance. When she'd become the wind they could only just see her outline then that too had vanished. Jean was sitting with her eyes closed attempting to reach the professor or at least feel his consciousness. Privately she was angry at Donella. Angry that it had been Donella the Professor had reached out for. Angry and grateful. The lingering pain in Donella's mind had been scorching. She reached out for Donella's mind as she had done from time to time for the last three hours. Donella was searching and becoming tired. Jean smirked mentally. She and Donella had nearly come to blows when Donella produced a letter from the Professor stating that he was leaving Donella in charge of Haven in his absence. Even though at the time Haven had only been a concept on paper. Scott had been understandably upset but he'd accepted Xavier's decision. Jean had not. She was convinced that Donella was in no way fit to be in charge of a project as vast as Haven. She or Scott were far better candidates, better educated as well while Donella only had a High School Diploma.

Suddenly Jean felt an excited jump in Donella. Logan comm crackled. "I found him!" Donella said excitedly. "I know where he is. He's underground."

She gave them the co-ordinates which Logan relayed to the pilot. Once Donella had filtered back into the Jet they were heading West. To a secluded stretch of space only a few miles from the Nevada/California/Oregon boarder. The plane circled the area once while Kurt teleported everyone to the ground in pairs. The the plane left, the pilot promising to refuel then set down in the first flat stretch of ground within two miles of their destination. He'd be there for twenty four hours then he was gone.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once they were on the ground Logan motioned for Scott to take the lead. They made for a small bunker like building. It was relatively easy to get inside the complex but once they were in hell seemed to erupt. The fighting seemed to take hours but in reality it was mere minutes before the ground was littered with the bodies of dead or nearly dead FoH militants. They moved swiftly through the carnage following a map Jean had plucked forcibly from a soldiers mind before he'd died. Rogue had a similar map from a militants mind that she'd touched, which came in handy when they came to a corridor that split East and North and they had no idea which way would lead them to the professor.

They split into two groups Logan, Storm, Cyclops and Hank going North and Jean, Rogue, Kurt and Donella going East. The militants kept coming, bottle-necking themselves in the narrow corridors. Donella moved through them with determined viciousness. She used her powers to suck the air from militants lungs or to drown them in their own fluids. They checked every room as they passed but still didn't find the Professor . Donella started grabbing militants at random and asking where he was being kept and if they didn't know they died. Jean and Kurt watched in horrified fascination. They were silently appalled that she could kill so swiftly and with so little regard. When Jean spoke up at one point though Rogue glared at her. "You only got a small taste of what she felt. Ah only got a small taste of what she felt through the Professor. She's being nice. She could boil their brains in their skulls, she could leave 'em alive but brain dead from lack of air. She could do a lot more damage but she's not."

Jean stared at Rogue as she moved up to walk by Donella's side. She'd have a chat with the Professor about his girlfriend later she decided. The came to another intersection and Donella motioned Kurt and Jean to go right while she and Rogue went left. A little further down the left hand hall Donella and Rogue saw a door swing open. They approached carefully. When they peered through the door it took all of Donella's self discipline not to run to the familiar wheelchair bound figure sitting on the far end of the room. "Do come in." A cultured voice invited from the desk at the far end of the room.

Donella and Rogue entered the room and got a better look at the man behind the desk. He was alone, no guards or attendants, just him and Xavier. He was a powerfully built man with a thick shock of graying hair and penetrating gray eyes. Rogue tapped her comm. "We found him. East hall left fork."

"Gotcha. We'll be there in a few darlin'." Logan replied.

Rogue watched the door in case any militants showed up while Donella faced the Gray man. "Who are you." She asked simply.

"Derek Gordon." He replied. "You will be Donella and Rogue I suppose."

Donella didn't respond, just watched him and he sighed. "You've finally come for Xavier. It took you long enough."

The words were barely out of his mouth when Donella was right in front of him her hand smashing into his cheek with enough force to loosen a few teeth. "If you want to insinuate that we didn't care enough for him to come for him sooner I have no compunctions ripping your liver out through your nose." She stated calmly.

"In point of fact I'm insinuating that you Mutants simply weren't intelligent enough or sufficiently well connected enough to know where to look for your dear Professor Xavier." He replied using a pristine white handkerchief to blot the blood flecking his lower lip.

Donella narrowed her eyes dangerously but to Gordon's credit he didn't flinch. "It hardly matters now at any rate. He's useless to us or anyone else now. I'm afraid we fried his mind. He's all used up. You can have him back now."

"What do ya mean he's all used up?" Rogue asked.

"I mean, stupid girl, that we made him find as many mutants as we could before his mind just fell apart like soggy tissue. He's quite useless now, about as mentally competent as a two year old." He watched their expressions carefully and what he saw was interesting.

Donella looked eerily calm, it was Rogue who lost her temper. She advanced on him hands extended. "I swear I will drain the life from you, you son-of-a-bitch!"

Donella extended one arm and Rogue stopped. "You do realize, Mr. Gordon, that you are so full of bullshit you could rent yourself out as fertilizer?" She asked calmly. "This complex is coming down around your ears."

Running footsteps alerted Rogue to possible enemies and she spun to face the door just as the rest of the X-Men joined them. They all stared in shock at the professor. Donella motioned for someone to step forward. Jean hurried forward and pulled the Professors chair away from the desk. "Leave the chair." Donella said. "And someone check him for bugs."

"Surely you don't think I would be so primitive?" Gordon chuckled.

"I think you're full of shit. I think you're so desperate to be rid of all mutants everywhere that you'd stoop to just about anything. Well this is one group of Mutants you can't have." She waved her hand at the X-Men and they started back the way they had come leaving only her and Rogue.

"Rogue, go with them. I'll be right behind you." Donella still hadn't taken her eyes of Gordon.

"Ya sure?"

"I just got him back. I'm in no hurry to kill myself and lose him again Rogue, now go." Donella's voice was calm.

Rogue ran after the others and Donella gave Derek Gordon a truly frightening smile. "I know what you are Derek."

"And what am I?" He asked watching her.

"You're not Derek Gordon for one. You're a clone, or a paid substitute, some nameless puppet who doesn't mind dieing to protect the real Derek Gordon. You look enough like him to pass that's for sure but you aren't him."

His smile slipped a little. "And just how do you know that?" He asked coldly.

She leaned forward, her hands resting very lightly on his desk. "Because Derek Gordon is my brother." She smiled at the look of pure shock and fear that engulfed the imposters face and with a thought sucked the air from his lungs watching him writhe and suck for air that would not come.

When he was dead she pushed the button on a remote detonator. As they had been traversing the corridors they had been planting C4 charges. She was sure that there were enough flammable materials to make a sufficiently satisfying explosion. She transformed into her air form and floated up into a vent working her way to the surface. Once in the open air she floated over the bunker. "Time for an Earth Shattering Kaboom." She whispered as the ground shook with the explosions under the surface.

She turned and flew after the fleeing X-Men. Her mind felt as if it had been doused in ice cold spring water. Her thoughts sharper and clearer than they had been in a long time. As they approached the plane she became solid again and one thought fixed itself in her mind. "My brother is a dead man."

"Jean if you don't back up right now and let me in I swear to the gods I will suck the air outta that empty head of yours." Donella snapped.

She was glaring up at the much taller woman who was blocking the door to the Infirmary. It had been three months since they had retrieved Xavier from the FoH compound and nothing had improved. He was still catatonic. There was also a higher than normal level of tension among the mutants who made up Haven's leaders. Everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Jean glared down at Donella, it was obvious Donella hadn't gotten much sleep, there were dark smudges under her blue eyes and her hair was tangled. "You were up all night again with him weren't you?"

"Yes I was Jean. Not that its any of your business. Then I went to the early meeting, which you missed by the way." Donella snapped angrily.

Jean shrugged dismissively. "I wasn't needed. You've seen to that."

Donella stared at her then started laughing. That made Jeans temper rise and a syringe behind her rattled until she got her temper under control. "Its time to get over it Jean." Donella said finally.

"Get over what?" Jean asked frostily.

"Get over being pissed off that Charles left me in charge. Get over acting like a twelve year old who's been told that she still needs a baby sitter. You're acting like a child. That's why you aren't invited to policy meetings. You act up and raise pointless objections just to make things difficult." Donella pointed a finger at Jean and Jean almost flinched.

"I do not raise pointless objections and I am not acting like a child." Jean objected angrily.

"Whatever you say princess. You can take it up with Charles when he wakes up. Now, let me by please." Donella stepped forward and tried to pass Jean.

Jean put an arm out to stop her. "I was given medical autonomy in that bogus letter you produced when the Professor went missing. And false or not I am enforcing my authority in the infirmary. I'm not letting you in here."

"And why not precisely?" Donella asked raising an eyebrow.

"It's not healthy for either of you right now. You haven't slept in days and your presence obviously isn't helping him or he'd be awake by now." Jean studied Donella's face hoping to see something. She knew better than to try to read Donella's mind, the last time she'd tried she'd had a splitting headache for days.

Donella didn't react, she just nodded calmly. "Very well. I'll go get some sleep. I will be back to see him later Jean and make no mistake, I'll go right through you if I have to to visit him." She turned and walked away her bearing disguising the deep hurt she felt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Logan leaned against the wall just around the corner and thought about what he'd just seen. He chewed thoughtfully on his cigar. Donella had changed a lot since she'd hooked up with the professor. She'd have decked Jean six and a half years ago. He had smelt the spike of pain in Donella when Jean had turned her away using words carefully chosen to hurt. Part of him wanted to strike out at Jean for deliberately trying to hurt Donella but he knew Donella wouldn't appreciate having her battles fought for her. Rogue came up along side him. "Did Ah just hear what I think Ah heard?" She asked softly.

"Yeah darlin' ya did." He replied heavily.

"Well aren't we gonna do somethin'?" She asked.

"Yeah, we're gonna keep our eyes on the situation and wait till the Professor wakes up. Then we'll give him a full accountin.'" Logan wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

She snuggled in close to him. He kissed the top of her head. "So you gonna go in there and ask Jeannie for a pregnancy test or what darlin'?"

She pulled back sharply. "How'd you know that's what Ah was down here for?"

He tapped the side of his nose. "You shoulda jus' asked me Darlin'. I could tell ya right away."

"And ya didn't think to tell me when ya started smellin' it?" She pushed his shoulder lightly but she was smiling.

"Women like to find out on there own. Don't know why. And its hard as hell to keep it to myself when I can smell you and Storm. Good news should be shared." He grinned when she stared at him in shock.

"Storm?" She squeaked.

He nodded. "Yeah, Stormy's pregnant too. 'Bout time too. Hank's been tryin' hard enough to get her in the family way."

Rogue giggled for a moment then sobered. "I don't know why we're so giddy over it. We're bringing new life into this hateful world. Doesn't seem fair to the poor kid who's gonna have to deal with all that hostility."

Logan turned her around and pulled her to him so he could stroke her belly while he held her. "Because darlin, it ain't always gonna be this way. Kids mean hope is still alive. Besides, we're safe here in Haven. Even with the FoH hunting us and all. And there ain't a mutant alive here that won't move heaven and earth to keep the kids safe."

Rogue leaned back and enjoyed the solid warmth of him for a long moment before pulling away. "Then I guess I need to go tell Jean I'm pregnant and need a check up."

He kissed her and watched her walk into the infirmary before turning towards the lower levels.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Donella sat on the couch in her apartment not even bothering to wipe at the tears slipping down her cheeks. She had an open locket in her hand. The smoldering green eyes and wicked smile of her late husband stared up at her across from the more saccharine visage of Charles Xavier who gazed at her from the photo with wise understanding eyes. Her late husband and the man she desperately wanted to marry side by side, and completely out of her grasp. She was startled by a knock at the door. She closed the locket and stuffed it in her pocket with one hand while she wiped at her face with the other. "Who is it?" She asked.

"Logan."

She swore silently. Of all the people she didn't want to see her like this he was at the top of the list. He'd know in a second she'd been crying. "Is it important? I'm getting ready to take a nap."

"Bullshit." He replied and opened the door. She cursed herself for forgetting to lock it. Though in Haven locked doors were uncommon. No one was going to steal from each other in Haven.

She backed up and turned away from him heading into the kitchen to fix herself some tea. "What is it Logan?"

"I overheard your conversation with Jean." He replied.

"It's not a conversation with that woman. It generally degenerates into name calling after the first few sentences." She replied with a snort.

"I guess I don't have to tell ya she's just trying to get under yer skin."

Donella put the kettle on the stove but didn't bother turning it on. "I know." She replied softly.

"But it still hurts." He stated simply.

She tried to muster up a glare but her heart wasn't in it. He reached out and pulled her in for a hug. She tried to pull away but after a moment gave in and just let him hug her. "He's right there and I can't reach him." She said.

Logan didn't say anything. It occurred to him that in the six years since Xavier had gone missing she'd never taken another lover. "Is this the first time anyone's held you in six years?" He asked and was surprised at himself for asking that.

It shocked him even more when she nodded. "I've gotten hugs but any time I went looking for sex I'd see him in my mind and I just couldn't. Not knowing he was alive somewhere. Its not like with Julien. I knew for sure Julien was dead."

He tilted her face up and looked her in the eye. "You'll get him back Donella."

"I wish I could be so sure." She replied evenly and the touching moment was over. He let her go and she wiped her eyes.

"Well I'll be sure enough for the both of us." She smiled a little when he said that.

"So whats new for you?" She asked finally turning the kettle on and taking a cup from the rack. "It's been a while since we just talked."

She fished in her fridge until she came up with a beer and he cracked the top. "Rogues pregnant. So's Storm but Storm hasn't said anything yet."

Donella smiled. "Babies. That'll be just the thing to get everyone moving in Haven."

Logan chuckled. "Oh yeah. Rogue and Storm will never want for sitters. Truth be told I'm surprised we haven't had more in six years."

Donella shrugged. "Everyone's afraid to bring a baby into a world where they'll be hated. Makes them more cautious."

"Well you might want to start making plans for more babies cause once Storm and Rogue come out with theirs everyone else is gonna ant to start havin' 'em."

Donella got a slightly horrified look. "We have over six hundred people living in Haven. If the two hundred plus couples start having babies that means upwards of two hundred new people. We're gonna have to start expanding Haven."

Logan chuckled and sipped his beer. Nothing like a puzzle to get Donella's mind of depressing subjects.

Xavier sat across the chess board from a figure whose face he couldn't see. They played game after game of chess both winning and both losing. "It is truly frightening how like life chess is." the shadowy figure said calmly.

Xavier tried to place the voice with little success. It wasn't Eric. Nor was it any of Xavier's other more refined acquaintances. Though he had been shocked to the core when he learned that Logan could play chess. "It is rather like life, though with far less risk."

"Oh I don't know about that." The voice replied and Xavier was suddenly aware of the chess piece in his hand. He looked down at the little pawn and was stunned to see a miniature Scott. He was warm, breathing and looking terrified.

Xavier set him down quickly and as gently as he could manage. "Are you certain you want to place him there?" The voice asked and Xavier registered the board. He had inadvertently placed Scott in a Bishops path.

"No, I apologize, I was caught off guard momentarily." Xavier picked Scott up again very carefully and set him out of harms way.

"No trouble. Though you shouldn't be so reticent to use your marvelous strategies now that you have seen the pieces. It would make the game dreadfully dull."

"Is that all this is to you? A game?" Xavier glanced at his opponents pieces and saw average looking men and women dressed in combat fatigues. They seemed completely unconcerned with being pieces in a game.

"Of course not." The voice replied unruffled. "It's not just A game. Its The game Xavier. The game of life. Played with the ultimate stakes."


Xavier glanced down at his chess pieces. The X-men, other less well known people in his life, in the Spot of the Queen Donella, the woman he loved and in the spot of the King an empty wheelchair. "You've noticed. Yes, it was something of a bother. I hadn't intended to capture the King and yet still not have him."

Xavier raised an eyebrow and watched his opponent make a move. He took counter measures and tried not to notice how fragile these pieces were. "And exactly what is it you want?"

"I hadn't decided when that dreadful war began. It was completely ahead of schedule and rather unexpected. I mean I knew the US was going to collapse. That was all carefully planned for. And I knew the War was coming but it all happened too soon and I was forced to move rather faster than I wanted to." He moved a piece and Xavier had to make a difficult choice.

He pondered it for a while. "So what were you hoping for. Power, Money, the Extinction of Mutants?"

"Power yes, money I already had. Perhaps not their extinction. They can after all be so useful. Yes I do believe it was power I was after ultimately. I have some now but it isn't nearly enough yet. I'll get there though. In time."

Xavier winced as his only option became clear to win this game. He picked up the Queen and Donella looked up at him with her laughing blue eyes. He set her down on the board. "Check." He said serenely.

"Sacrificing Donella? Well that is rather practical if somewhat cold hearted." His opponent moved a Rook and the chess piece swallowed Donella up.

Xavier struggled to remain calm then moved his bishop. "Check mate." He said.

"Very good. I didn't see that coming."

"As I've won why don't you tell me who you are?" Xavier said quietly tiring of the games.

The figure leaned forward his face thrown into relief. Xavier studied the face before him. A refined face, slightly larger than normal Steel Grey eyes and a straight nose. He had a thin lipped mouth and a shock of gray hair topping it all off. There was something familiar about the structure of the face but Xavier couldn't place it. There was a spitting sound and Xavier looked down briefly to see the Rook spitting Donella out as the board reset itself. He looked back up at his opponent and recognized the similarities. His opponent smiled. "I see you've figured it out."

He snapped his fingers and Xavier felt roiling agony rip through him as the chessboard melted away leaving him in a dark space surrounded by pain and worst of all, by doubt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Donella jerked awake. Someone was touching her shoulder. She looked up at Rogue and tried to swallow her heart again. "Yeah Rogue?" She asked.

"Kitty found him." She replied simply.

Donella straightened up and looked down at Xavier still quiescent in the infirmary. She let go of his hand and smoothed the blanket where she'd fallen asleep on it. She followed Rogue to the massive Media Room. A room she'd designed specifically to monitor the worlds media. Kitty was sitting at her computer clicking away at something. Donella slipped up beside her. "What'd you find?" She asked.

Kitty pulled up a screen. There for all to see was Derek Gordon, her older brother giving a speech to the media concerning his belief that there was a dangerous group of mutants hiding out in British Columbia. "I will be taking a specialized team to scour the Province. We will eradicate this threat so our children may sleep in peace."

Donella stared at the screen as if she could influence what her brother was saying. A reported stood up. "What about the rumors that one of the Mutants is a member of your family?"

Derek shrugged easily. "There will always be that one member of the family that is an affront to the upstanding members of society. My sister is an abomination. An affront to the natural order of things. She'll be dealt with just like the rest."

Donella grimaced but kept watching. "How do you know where they are?"

"I have my sources, I'm not at liberty to discuss it right now but I will say that I've got my reasons to believe they're somewhere in British Columbia. It shouldn't be too hard to find them."

Donella shut off the interview and stared into space for a few minutes. "Call a Meeting Rogue. We need to come up with a defense."

Rogue ran to get the X-Men together while Donella pondered how Derek could know where they were.

"Ok people, we knew something like this was going to happen eventually. We have all kinds of defenses but lets just run through them again because I'm such a paranoid little soul." Donella was sitting at the head of the conference table with the X-Men plus a few of the former refugees who'd proven themselves highly resourceful and useful.

Donella hated calling it the council or the board but there were few options so she'd settled on the Haven Planning Committee. Scott, being her Defensive Logistics Officer, stood and held up a binder. "We put a lot of planning into preventing technological and mutant detection. We have Radar jammers set up all over the province to confuse anyone hunting for us. We used some of the same technology and metal Magneto used in his helmet to cover the dome which helps hide us from Telepaths. We've got radio jammers, subsonic distortions, seven and a half feet of concrete, carefully concealed entrances. I can't see how he's managed to figure out what continent we're on much less what province."

He spent twenty minutes describing how their various layers of defense worked with the others and how he planned to reinforce them then it was Logan's turn. Donella had appointed him the Offensive Logistics Officer, he had set up their training routine, trained the instructors then organized when and where everyone would train. Offensive and defensive training were mandatory in Haven. "Hank and I jus' installed the new perimeter alarms and the perimeter weapons system. If they come by ground they'll get a nasty surprise. As for our air defense we're screwed. Can't have one without showin' off where we are. But we've got enough fliers to put up a good fight. The interior of Haven has checkpoints, we've got weapons located in lockers every Hundred yards all keyed to only open to Mutant DNA, thank you Hank. The Security Teams are all up to date and combat ready though with your permission Donella I'd like to switch the barracks around a bit. Put the combat ready at the forefront."

Donella nodded and the minute taker noted it down. Logan continued. "I suggest patrols around our interior border. Hourly if not every thirty minutes Switch 'em out every three days that typa thing. Double the guard at our entrance points and have everyone ready for an evacuation through the tunnels. I'd also like permission to arm the self destruct."

The room went eerily silent and Donella considered the request very carefully. Haven had been built with a self destruct in the event they were too badly compromised. It was a last resort, especially since with the population of Haven being well over six hundred there was little chance they'd be able to evacuate everyone before the self destruct collapsed Haven. Hundreds could die. Donella shook her head slowly. "I do not believe we've come to that just yet. Permission denied."

Logan nodded once and kept going. "We need at least another dozen people on the Security Monitors and I'd like another half dozen in the Media Room hacking the FoH servers."

Donella nodded and Logan flipped a page in his binder. "The last item on my list is evacuation. In the event we need to evacuate through the tunnels we won't have enough Chiefs for all the indians. How do we want to work that? And where is our rendezvous?"

Donella motioned to Kurt who was in charge of locating an alternate site for a secondary sanctuary. "I may have found a place but you vill not like it." He said in his germanic accent, softened by years of living with Americans.

Donella motioned for him to proceed and he brought up a world map on the far wall. He moved to it and pointed at a spot in the middle of Brazil. "Zere is a series of enormous caverns larger even zan Haven. It vould be difficult to get zere though."

"I want everyone working on ideas for how to get there and make it habitable." Donella said glancing around the room. "I don't want to have to but in the event Haven is compromised beyond repair we'll do what we must. I'm opening the floor to thoughts and suggestions. Please don't shout."

She sat back and gave the Committee a chance to voice themselves. Logan sat back as well, he had said what he intended to. If he had anything further to add he would track down Donella and tell her in private. "I believe we should begin evacuation now." Storm said.

"That would be nearly impossible and give away our position." Angel commented.

"Someone needs to get more supplies then if we're going to withstand a siege. Medical and food, the hydroponics aren't ready to harvest yet."

Should we begin rationing?"

"Oh I don't think that's such a good idea. It will alarm everyone and there might be fights or riots."

"What are we going to tell everyone. There are already rumors."

"There will always be rumors. Should we give the population a choice, stay and wait it out or evacuate?"

"That's really not much of a choice. Stay here and have a fifty fifty chance or go out there again and have a fifty fifty chance."

"So really all we're doing is offering them a choice in how to die."

"Jean! You know that's not what we're doing."

"No what we're doing is letting Donella choose for us." Jean stood up and planted her hands on her hips. "I find it all rather ironic that it's her brother hunting us down. That as soon as we rescued Xavier she stayed behind to talk to the FoH leader, who she claims was an impostor but how do we know? She could have told him just where to find us."

Donella looked up at Jean her eyes unconcerned. "I believe we've already had this argument. Three months ago when I called a meeting to let everyone know just who was behind the FoH. I offered to step aside. The Committee voted against it. The population of Haven knows as well, it's not like it's a secret." She stood up and gave everyone her full attention. "Jean is probably not the only one who suspects me. I'll offer the Committee another chance. Do you want me to step aside? You can appoint whomever you wish to replace me. I'm going to step out for a minute so you can discuss it. Someone call me back when you've decided."

She exited the room and Jean spoke up again. "You all know what my thoughts on it are. Now they've been justified. Her brother knows we're in British Columbia. I don't think it's any kind of coincidence."

"And jus' who would you like to appoint to replace her Jeannie?" Logan drawled arching a brow.

"Scott." Jean replied promptly and Rogue laughed.

"Sorry Scott. I'm not laughin' at ya. Just at Jean there. The only reason ya didn't nominate yerself was cause no one's gonna put up with yer high and might ass in that chair."

Jean scowled at her. "I nominated Scott because he was being groomed by the Professor to take over when Xavier was gone. Then Donella shows up and it all changes on a dime? I don't think so."

"Well he seemed to." Storm replied. "You always were a little too quick to discount Donella, Jean. There's more there than meets the eye. Xavier knew that. Perhaps he saw a quality in her that might not have been present in Scott. No offense Scott."

Scott shrugged easily. To be honest he'd never been keen on taking over from the Professor, or the leader of the X-men. He was a defensive person at heart, after a certain amount of necessary posturing with Logan they'd settled into an easy relationship. Logan did the rough stuff and Scott took care of the defense.

Jean snorted. "There are hidden qualities to Donella alright. She's a former heroine junkie, she was a stripper when Logan found her, Lord only know what kind of criminal record she has..." She trailed off when she saw the looks on Logan's, Rogues and Storms faces. She only belatedly realized she'd crossed a line.

Logan spoke up first. "Yeah, she was strippin' when I met her. She ain't never been ashamed of her body that's fer sure. And she was a heroine addict when she was a teenager. You remember being a teenager right? Wanted all the things that were bad for you and didn't care what anyone said cause hell yer immortal when yer a teen. But she's never stolen and she's never killed someone who didn't deserve it. So why don't you jus' admit what ya hate about her."

Everyone watched Jean and she realized no one here was going to back her up, and if the thoughts she heard from Haven were accurate no one in Haven would either. She flushed angrily and Rogue smirked. "You hate that she's closer to Xavier than you are. Ya hate that he chose her not you and you hate that everyone liked her the second they met her while you seem to be an acquired taste. S'what ya get for being a snob."

Storm stood and opened the door. She walked a few feet and found Donella dozing in a chair. "Donella. The Committee has come to a decision."

Donella rubbed at her eyes and followed Storm back in. "So did you hammer it out?"

"We did." Jean replied shortly sitting down.

"Yeah. I'd like to make a motion that Jean Grey be removed from the Committee. On the grounds that she's being a royal pain." Logan added.

Jean stared at him then around the room as everyone seconded then passed the motion. Donella raised an eyebrow when Scott raised his hand as well. "Well then. Its seems Jean that you are no longer welcome at the auspices. Please leave."

Jean stood in a huff. "With pleasure." She snapped and stalked out slamming the door behind her. Donella looked at Scott. "You sure you made the right choice?"

Scott shrugged. "To tell you the truth Donella, you do a far better job running this place than I could and I like it that way."

Donella smiled. "Thank you. Ok then. Everyone knows what they're doing so lets do it."

"Are you quite certain?" Derek asked as Xavier stared at the chess board. "I rather thought you enjoyed our games."

Xavier couldn't meet Derek's gaze, he was exhausted. It felt as if he'd been playing chess and suffering mind wrenching pain for years though he knew it couldn't have been that long. "I find I cannot enjoy our games as I once did. Seeing those I love damaged time and time again rather takes the fun out of a 'game'." He replied.

Derek leaned back in his chair and watched Xavier with a sly smile. Xavier noticed. "What is it you're after Derek. We've been playing this game for a long time and I'm heartily sick of it."

"You've always know what I'm after Xavier. I want to know where the mutants are. Especially that abomination Donella." Derek said her name as if it were the foulest of curses.

"You've never liked your sister have you?" Xavier asked.

Derek snorted dismissively. "I spent nearly thirteen years as an only child. I never needed or wanted a sibling, rather I was content to have my parents attentions to myself then my dratted mother had to go and decide that she wanted another child. I wasn't enough for them. She charmed them effortlessly from the moment she was born and continued to do so, even when it became blatantly apparent she was a monster."

"You're parents didn't care that she was a mutant?"

"Not at all. If anything they were confused as to why I wasn't. It was so thrilling for them to have such a 'special child' in their family. They turned a blind eye to the mistakes, the occasional rain-showers indoors and the suffocated pets." Derek stopped talking for a moment then smirked at Xavier. "You're more clever than people realize Xavier. I realize I must sound like the jealous brother. Well I am but it goes beyond that."

"What did she do that was so horrific?" Xavier asked easily slipping into his usual role of the confidant.

Derek thought about it for a moment. "I suppose I could have forgiven her stealing the hearts of my parents with her oh so charming ways. I could have forgiven the dead pets and the hurricane at our grandfathers funeral. Then she turned to heroine to cope with our parents demands. And they were demanding, of both of us. We were to be the best at anything they set us to. Regardless of our own wishes but I never minded. She didn't either but for all her charm she was never quite able to measure up. So she began taking drugs. Ritalin to focus her mind at first then that began to fail her so she kept moving up the drug chain until she got hooked on heroine. I didn't really care what she was doing so long as she didn't embarrass me." Derek paused for a long moment then continued.

"I brought my fiances over for a visit. Donella was back from a short stint in rehab and we thought she was getting better. Until her concentration snapped while she was alone with my fiance. She sucked the air right out of Desiree. Sucked the life from her then ran. She couldn't face any of us. We got an apology letter. A letter, nothing further. My parents were mad with worry and I was desperate with grief for the woman I loved and all we got was a letter. My parents bankrupted themselves looking for her then she comes waltzing in four years later with some scrawny fellow announcing she's married and clean. As if that made everything alright. And do you know, my parents welcomed her back into the family. I left after that. Oh I sent cards and phoned in but I never went home, not until after my parents died."

Xavier felt stunned. Donella had told him some of what her life had been like but there were parts of her she wouldn't, or couldn't talk about. A guilty secret she kept buried so deep even he couldn't see it. "So you see Xavier. That's why you're here. I'm going to take you away the way Desiree was taken. And then I'll keep taking until there's nothing left for her."

Xavier looked down at the chess board and saw Donella on her knees sobbing, hiding her face from the other pieces on the board and from him. He had a sudden epiphany and with a casual flick he sent the wheelchair toppling. "Checkmate Derek. If you meant this to shock me it did but if you think it will keep me from loving her you are gravely mistaken."

It took but a simple act of will on Xavier part to leave the chess room behind and wake in the Haven infirmary.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Donella jerked awake. She sat bolt upright in bed and stared wildly around the room. The reason for her sudden wakefulness was not immediately apparent to her but she couldn't seem to stop the racing of her heart. Her mind frantically raced as she tried to figure out what had woken her. Acting on a hunch she pulled her robe on over the black tank-top and night pants she wore. She slid her feet into the soft ballet slippers she wore around the apartment and raced out of the apartment and to the infirmary. She just knew something was wrong with Charles. She ran with adrenalin driven speed praying nothing was fatally wrong with him. She skidded to a stop in front of the infirmary and punched in the access code. It denied her access and she tried to steady her trembling fingers. The code failed again. A third time she tried and a third time it failed. "Damn it Jean! Why'd you change the code!" She snarled knowing full well why Jean would change the code.

She backed up a little and became the cool night air with a thought and slipped in under the door. "Note to self kick Jeans ass." She muttered after becoming solid again.

She ran to Xavier's bedside. He was still there, his eyes still closed, the monitors hadn't changed and she couldn't for the life of her understand why she'd been so very worried that something had happened to him. "Gods something is wrong with me." She murmured sitting beside him trying to calm her racing heart and fluttering nerves.

She reached out and stroked his forehead as she'd done so often in the past. She loved sitting on his bed facing him and just talking to him, even if he couldn't hear her. "I must have had a nightmare Charles." She murmured. "I only hope you aren't having nightmares, where ever your mind has gone I hope its a happy place."

She took his hand in hers and kissed it gently. "Oh but I miss you my love. Everything is so much bigger than I thought it would be. So much more serious. and I don't know that I'm up to the task you left for me any more. Do you remember? Of course you do. You never seem to forget. I had a funny run in yesterday. Rogue and Storm are pregnant, I told you about that a few days ago, anyway, they've been having cravings and I just don't know how to tell them that we don't have any of what they want. I ask you, who in all the world makes pickle ice cream? We don't have pickles anymore down here. At least not until the hydroponics harvest. Then we'll have loads." She held his hand as she spoke to him and pretended he could hear her.

"Jean has been...no, I won't go into it. You don't need to hear me whine about my problems with Jean. Though it does remind me of a funny story. Scott came to my office a few days ago and wanted to borrow my kama sutra book. Can you believe it? I had to work so hard not to laugh. He could tell though. He can always tell. So he started laughing and we just cracked up about it for a few minutes before I gave him the book. It's so good to laugh. Everything seems so dark these days."

She was silent for a long moment before sighing. "I hate to do this Charles but I have to go back to bed. Theres more paperwork than we thought there would be and I need to do it all. Apparently tomorrow too because people are getting cranky about it." She leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. "I love you." She whispered and started to pull back.

She felt the pressure on her hand then Xavier's breathing changed. She leaned back and looked into his calm blue eyes. "I love you too Donella." He said simply.

Jean yawned delicately and punched in her code at the infirmary door. Her cup of coffee smelled like heaven at six in the morning and she vaguely wondered why it was she kept getting up at six am. She shrugged that thought aside and strode to her desk flicking on lights as she went. She set her coffee on the desk then went to check on Xavier. She peeked in and was at first angry that Donella had apparently managed to get in despite the code change. Her anger washed away though at the shock of seeing Donella laying in the bed with Xavier, who had his arms around her and was staring right at Jean. 'Good morning Jean.' His voice ghosted through her mind and she stumbled back in shock.

'Don't speak aloud. I don't wish to wake her.' Xavier smiled slightly and Jean sat down in the chair beside the bed.

'How?'

'It took me a while to realize it but it was my own doubt keeping me trapped inside my mind. Once I'd resolved my doubts it was the easiest thing in the world to return to consciousness.' He replied.

'Doubts?' Jean asked doing her best to ignore Donella who slept peacefully cradled in Xavier's arms.

'Yes. Donella tells me I was missing for six years. I couldn't be sure of exactly how long I was missing but I know I was being manipulated into believing I'd been forgotten. Then when I finally snapped I was manipulated even further into believing that I'd been betrayed. By those closest to me. Her brothers work I fear.'

'You know about her brother?'

'Oh yes. It was one of the first things he allowed me to know. That it was her brother, her blood kin destroying me slowly by inches. It threw me a bit I'll admit. Donella doesn't have a mean bone in her body.'

Jean snorted and Donella shifted slightly before settling again. 'You have something to say Jean?'

'Just that the woman in your arms is a viper.' Jean snapped. 'She's been running Haven like her own private play ground since you went missing. She has a "Committee" made up of people she knows will agree with her to maintain appearances. As soon as I spoke against her I was removed. She claims that you gave her authority over Haven, she produced some bogus letter to that effect and push Scott aside.' Jean could barely keep her anger from becoming vocalized and Xavier could feel the waves of hostility as she spoke telepathically. 'And now her brother knows we're in British Columbia. She must have told him when we rescued you. She stayed behind to talk to the so called impostor and now he knows where we are.'

Jean took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. Xavier considered both women, one sleeping, dark smudges still evident under her eyes. The other angry, bitter and barely in control of herself. 'Jean. I did write that letter.' He finally said.

"What?!" Jean sputtered aloud and Donella jerked awake.

"Whats going on?" She asked sharply looking around. "Oh gods, I'm sorry Charles, I didn't mean to pass out on you."

Xavier smiled at her. "It's fine dearest. Jean and I are just sorting some things out. Why don't you go get some more rest. I'll be along soon."

She smiled softly but he could see fear lurking behind her eyes. He brushed her wild hair away from her face and smiled. "Go. I'll be there soon. I promise."

She nodded and kissed his cheek before climbing off the bed and padding out of the infirmary. Xavier gave Jean a reproving look. "I wish you hadn't woken her. She has not been sleeping well of late."

Jean stared at him. "You did write that letter? Why?"

"Because Scott didn't want it. Neither did Donella truth be told but she was better suited to it than Scott. She's more flexible and for all Scott's many talents he's had little in the way of real world experiences. Donella has spent all her life in the real world. She knows what to expect from it. It made her more suitable." Xavier explained patiently.

Jean stared at him for a long moment and Xavier placed his hand over hers. "Jean. I know you dislike Donella. And as unethical as it was I read Donella's mind while she slept. I needed to know what was going on during my absence. Donella did not betray us. In point of fact I betrayed us inadvertently."

"You couldn't have!" Jean said startled, she felt as if her world were slowly collapsing around her.

"I did Jean. While I was in the FoH's custody they used drugs, mind control and torture to push me toward a complete mental breakdown. Then they gleaned what they could from my unguarded but fractured mind. I'm pleased to say they didn't get very much. Especially since Donella changed Haven's location after I went missing. But they did get a few things" Xavier ached seeing Jean so distraught, so confused but the more rational part of him maintained that she'd brought a lot of it on herself.

Jeans shoulders sagged. "So what do we do?" She whispered.

"We do as Donella instructs. Because she has a far better handle on this situation than we do." He replied.

Jean nodded and stood. "I'll go get your chair."

While she was off retrieving his chair Logan and Rogue came in. Rogue was complaining about morning sickness and Logan was crisply informing her that it was her own fault for eating raspberry jam and chicken wings together. The looked towards Xavier's bed and stopped dead. "Chuck! Good to see you awake fer a change!" Logan exclaimed.

"Oh mah god! Does Donella know?" Rogue asked.

"She does. She was the first thing I saw upon waking." Xavier replied.

"I won't lie to ya Chuck it's good to have ya back." Logan and Rogue stood next to his bed.

"It is good to be back. I'm sorry it took me so long." Xavier saw Jean push his wheel chair into the room then depart without a word. Logan looked over his shoulder and growled. "You gotta do somethin' about her Chuck. She's becomin' a real pain."

Xavier raised an eyebrow. "I had gotten that impression. All will be dealt with in time. Now would one of you be so kind as to help me get into my chair. I promised Donella I'd be along shortly. And could you point me in the direction of her quarters?"

Logan lifted Xavier easily and got him settled into his chair. Xavier tried the controls while Rogue explained how Haven's living quarters were set up. "Ah'll show ya where she lives."

As they all walked to Donella's apartment Rogue filled him in on her and Storms pregnancy. "That must have caused quite a stir." Xavier commented.

"We haven't announced it yet. We're waitin' till the community forum on Wednesday to break the news." Logan replied.

"Community Forum?" Xavier questioned.

"Yeah. It was Scott's idea. Said we needed to give everyone in Haven a chance to be heard so every two weeks Everyone who wants to gets together in the Great Hall and gets five minutes to say their piece. Sometimes there's debates. It's really made living so close to each other much nicer." Rogue replied.

Xavier nodded. "It sounds wonderful."

They turned a corner and Xavier saw the great sliding doors of Cerebro at the end of the hall, to the left about fourty feet from the great sliding doors was a smaller door. "Donella built the apartment close to Cerebro so you wouldn't have to travel far when you were tired." Rogue explained.

She knocked on the door then opened it. "There are locks on all the doors but no one bothers with 'em." Rogue commented. "We all follow the 'knock and see' policy."

Xavier chuckled. "Seems like a good policy. This seems like a Utopia."

"Not quite." Donella commented stepping forward.

She'd showered and changed into her usual cloths and was holding two cups of coffee. She handed one to Xavier. "We've had our fair share of fights and unrest. Things get tight just before harvest and it makes people cranky. Then you've got the folks who just can't seem to get along with one another. We've lost a few people to murder and there was a series of thefts before we caught the culprits. But we're doing better than I ever expected."

Xavier sipped the coffee. "It's good to know that you were able to make a concept on paper translate so well into real life." He said.

"We're gonna head out Donella. Rogue's got a check up." Logan said.

Donella smiled at both of them. "Take care. I'll see you at the Policy meeting."

They left shutting the door behind them. Donella sat in her favorite chair while Xavier sat across from her. "You look different Donella."

"Of course I do. It's been six years." She replied quietly.

He reached across the table and took her hand and they simply sat together.

"So let me get this straight. We're going to break into the FoH headquarters, which jus' happens to be Derek Gordon's home and sabotage anything we can get our little mitts on?" Rogue asked sitting in the Pickup while Logan drove.

"Not only that but Donella authorized some light intimidation and even a hostage situation if we really feel like we need to go that far." Logan replied.

Rogue sat with one foot propped up on the trucks dashboard. "Are we s'posed to bring anything back?" She asked finally.

"Not unless we think it'll help Haven and isn't bugged, poisoned or tampered with." Logan replied.
Rogue glanced over at him. "Ya know you should wear your seat belt."

Logan suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car. He turned to Rogue and very deliberately unbuckled her seat belt. Rogue smirked at him as he slid across the bench seat towards her. "Ya know the last time ya said that to me Marie we were attacked by Saber Tooth. How about we don't jinx this trip ok?" He was almost in her lap.

She grinned and kissed him tangling her hands in his unruly mane of hair. "Just wear the belt." She teased.

He nipped at her lips then scooted back to his seat. He pulled the belt across the lap and snapped it into place. "Only fer you darlin'."

Getting into Derek Gordon's home was easier than Logan and Rogue expected. Which quite naturally made them very suspicious. The guards were easily dealt with. Rogue had brought along a canister of chloroform gas which she sprayed into the faces of her opponents. Donella had asked that they keep the actual bloodshed to a minimum. They infiltrated the huge house with the help of the blueprints provided by Kitty and were working their way to the center of the house where Derek Gordon's private office resided. The layers of Security were getting pretty heavy. Twice Logan had to use his claws to silence an alarm before it had had chance to even chirp. When they finally got to Derek's office they were both wound pretty tight with suspicion. They hadn't figured it would be quite this easy and the constant grating on their nerves was wearing on them. Logan sliced through the lock on the office door and they slipped into the darkened office. The first thing Rogue did was flip on the lights. They relaxed a little when it became obvious the room was empty. She looked at the door and raised an eyebrow.

"Donella said make it obvious. It ain't like we're tryin' to hide that we were here darlin'." Logan replied. "We're just tryin' not to get caught."

He stayed near the door while Rogue started going through the desk. She switched on the computer and let it go through it's start up phase while she rifled through files and papers. She grabbed anything that looked useful but Donella had warned that once the FoH knew they'd been there they would probably change all their plans, passwords and even their locations. The computer beeped and Donella sat down in the chair. She was asked to give a password and She confidently typed in the Password Kitty had given her. "And in." She commented as she started opening files.

She opened the email program and started emailing files to Kitty. As soon as the email was sent she deleted the files. Once she'd done as much damage to the existing files as she could she pulled a diskette out of her pocket and uploaded a nasty virus. It would lay dormant in the computer until a certain amount of file space had been filed then it would start up and fry the files, devastating whatever information was stored on that computer. "Darlin', you almost done? There's about ten people hangin' around outside the door. I think they know we're here."

"Wonder what they're waitin' fer?" Rogue asked rhetorically. She knew they were waiting for orders from Derek.

She pulled the disk out of the computer and stuffed it back into her pocket. She started tossing papers around generally making a mess. Logan nodded approvingly. She then moved to the bookcase and started rifling through it looking for empty books and hidden spaces. A few moments later the door opened and Derek himself walked in. Rogue peered at him carefully until she saw the small star shaped scar next to his left eye that Donella had told them about. She nodded to Logan.

He looked around at his wreaked office and sighed. "And you wonder why people believe Mutants are scum." He commented.

He waved a hand at the door and Logan and Rogue could hear the militants and guards scattering. "Not gonna try to catch us?" Rogue asked cheekily.

"I haven't got a facility to keep you in at the moment." Derek replied smoothly.

"And one will never be built." Logan ground out.

"We'll see." Derek replied glancing around at the chaos. "You do know that nothing you've gleaned here will be of any value come the morning. I suppose you do or you wouldn't have made such a mess. Tell me did my sister tell you that or did you actually manage to work it out for yourselves?"

Rogue bristled but calmed a little when Logan put a hand on her shoulder. He was too used to people implying that he was too stupid to understand something to let it bother him anymore. "Yer sister told us but I'm sure we coulda worked it out fer ourselves."

Derek settled in his chair and steepled his fingers. "so perhaps you can explain to me why you haven't killed me yet?"

Rogue shrugged. "Donella doesn't want you dead. She'd rather just leave you alone and be left alone by you. Frankly that's all mutants want."

Derek snorted. "As I recall there were quite a few who didn't have quite that kind of pacifistic attitude."

"And there are quite a few humans who thought the Jews were inferior but they were wrong too." Logan replied. "Yes, I used a historical analogy. Don't have a heart attack."

Derek snorted. "It doesn't matter in any case. I'll find Haven and I'll destroy it and the mutants who reside there. Save my sister of course. I have plans for her."

Rogue made a disgusted face and Derek's face darkened angrily. "Not that kind of plan you disgusting creature! I'm going to make her pay for what she did to me."

Logan and Rogue glanced at each other and Derek started laughing. "You don't know do you? My saintly sister didn't tell you her secret past." His voice was heavy with sarcasm. "I'm not surprised. Nasty little thing that she is."

Rogue shrugged. "We know she had a heroine habit, and that she had a husband who died of cancer, anything else is just filler."

Derek surged to his feet his eyes alight with rage and something more insane. "Just filler? That evil creature killed my fiance with her unnatural powers. Sucked the life from her then ran away. She destroyed my family, bankrupted my parents and destroyed the one person in my life who made any sense. And now she's surrounded by people who love her, who protect her, who adore her. Not for long. I'll see her broken before me!"

Logan and Rogue were shocked at the pure rage and its undercurrent of madness coming from Derek. He slowly calmed and sat back down. Logan spoke first. "An accident doesn't change who she is."

"No but secrets do." Derek said smugly.

Rogue stripped her gloves off and tucked them into a pocket. "Ah've had just about enough of this little chat. Ya have a choice Derek. Ya can call off yer attack team searching for Haven or Ah can drain the life from you and use what ya know to call them off mahself."

He laughed at her. "Stupid thing. You won't kill me because my sister doesn't want me dead. And my being dead won't help you any because even with my knowledge you still wouldn't be able to call the team off. They've been given orders to destroy Haven regardless of any further orders from me. And we really are getting worryingly close to you're precious Haven."

He picked up a tiny remote and clicked a button. An overhead projector popped up a map of British Columbia on the far wall inside a grid. Half the grid squares were crossed through indicating that they'd already been searched. The attack team was really getting frighteningly close to Haven. He shut the projector off and grinned nastily at Logan and Rogue. "Go on. Run run run back to Haven. It won't help."

Rogue slid her gloves back on. "Even if they do find Haven they won't win." She replied calmly. She surged forward suddenly and delivered a staggering blow to Dereks head. The chair toppled backward and She stood over him with a contemptuous look on her face. "Yer a nasty man with a grudge. People like you don't win."

He scrambled to his feet and glared at her. "This isn't a movie. And you aren't the good guys. Now get out of my home before I change my mind about trying to keep you."

Logan and Rogue left the building but instead of returning to the truck they detoured to a tiny airport and boarded the small plane that sat waiting on the tarmac. Rogue nodded to the pilot and they took off.

Logan and Rogue dropped into seats across from Donella in her office. She set aside her batch of hydroponic reports and looked at them curiously. "I don't need a personal report guys."

Logan chomped fitfully on his cigar while Rogue tried to figure out what she wanted to say. "I take it things did not go as planned at the FoH headquarters?" Donella finally asked if only to break the silence that stifled the room.

"Oh no. It went off jus' fine." Logan growled shortly. "Everythin' happened the way you said it should."

"Then why are you in my office eating that cigar instead of smoking it and why does Rogue look like she has mental constipation?" Donella asked.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Rogue finally blurted out.

"Tell you what?" Donella asked baffled at her friends cryptic questions.

Logan had had enough. He stood abruptly his chair toppling over as he planted his hands on her desk. "Why didn't you tell us why yer brother wants you hurt. Why didn't you tell us about yer brothers fiance? That's why he's got a mad on for Mutants in the first place!" Logan snarled his face drawing closer to Donella's.

Rogue looked stunned. She hadn't realized Logan was more upset about the revelation than she was. She put a hand on his arm but he shrugged her off. "You knew how his complex would be set up. You knew how his soldiers would react, you even told Kitty where to find his god damned password! What else do you know? What else are you not telling us huh?"

His face was an inch away from Donella's, he couldn't even see her expression anymore with how close their noses were, all he saw were a pair of blue eyes filled with something he couldn't explain or place. He shoved away from her in disgust. "Maybe Jean was right about you." He snarled and turned to leave.

Suddenly there was a whirlwind surrounding him. Hurricane force winds buffeting him from all sides and an anguished howl. "What you don't know about me could fill a teacup Logan." Donella screamed. "I told you more than I ever told anyone but my Julien. Only he knew my shame, only he knew that I wanted to die. That I still want to die." Suddenly the winds were gone and Rogue was standing holding Donella up her bare hand against Donella cheek while Donella gasped in pain feeling the strength leave her body. Rogue let go of Donella's cheek and Donella slid mercifully into unconsciousness.

"Rogue! What'd you do?" He gaped.

She motioned around the room at the destroyed furniture, the walls ripped apart leaving gleaming metal exposed behind the shredded paneling. The desk was obliterated and Logan was standing a good ten feet from where he'd stood. "She would have destroyed the whole place." Rogue murmured.

The door suddenly slammed open and Xavier barreled in, his wheelchair whining in protest at the speed it had been forced to use. He looked at Donella. "What in gods name happened here?"

Logan sat heavily amongst the debris. "Where do I start Chuck?"

Xavier wheeled to Donella who lay on the floor. He motioned for Rogue to help him with her and Rogue lifted Donella so she was cradled in Xavier's lap. Rogue took a deep breath and started explaining starting with the mission to the FoH head quarters and ending with using her power on one of her best friends. Xavier looked grave as he cradled Donella. "She was wrong about one thing. Julien wasn't the only one who knew. Derek made sure I knew too." He brushed strands of blond hair from Donella's face.

"You knew?" Logan asked sharply.

"I did. It was her past, her shame. No one else needed to know and obviously having it exposed this way unbalanced her."

"Actually Professor Ah think Logan insinuatin' that Jean was right about her bein' a traitor's what did it." Rogue pointed out.

Xavier looked at Logan stunned. Logan stood slowly. "I ain't explainin' myself to you Chuck. I'll explain why I'm pissed to Donella and maybe to Rogue but this goes beyond personal." He walked slowly over to Xavier and Donella and gently touched Donella's cheek. "Though I do owe her an apology when she wakes up. I lost my temper and said somethin' I didn't mean."

He walked out of the ruined office leaving Xavier and Rogue wondering what was going on. "What are you thinking?" Xavier asked quietly.

Rogue sighed, she knew Xavier could read her surface thoughts even though the deeper part of her mind was too cloudy with other personalities for him to read. She knew he wanted to talk about what she'd learned about Donella but wondered if she did. She eventually sighed and spoke slowly and thoughtfully. "Ah think we all have secrets. Things we don't tell anybody about. Logan and Ah have fewer than most on accounta he can't remember them and I never had any to begin with. Ah think Donella and Logan were very close fer a while and she told him a lot about herself and it bothers him that she didn't trust him with it all."

Xavier kept his eyes on Rogue and was silently impressed with how mature she'd grown in the six years he was absent. She continued. "Ah'll admit I was kinda thrown. Mostly cause just a week or so before we'd been tellin' Jean she'd neva killed anybody and know we find out she's gone and made liars of us. But I know she didn't do it on purpose. She's ashamed and torn up over it even now. Like I used to be about Cody. There's other things she's keepin' secret that her brother neva knew about. She's hiding one really big thing about her late husband even from me and you and it makes her so sad she just wants to die." She looked Xavier in the eye a little stunned and afraid. "She's more fragile than any of us thought."

Xavier looked down at Donella as she lay in his arms and wondered how he could have not known so much about her. As if sensing his plight Rogue put a hand on his shoulder. "I can't read minds Xavier but I can read faces. You and she, you didn't have all that much time together before you were captured. Maybe a whole six or seven months. But I promise ya. She never went to anyone elses bed. Whatever happened in those six or seven months it was fer real." On an impulse she gave him a hug then lifted Donella out of his arms. "Come on, lets go get her to the infirmary."

Xavier watched Rogue walk ahead of him and was silently proud of the understanding, intelligent woman she'd grown into.

Xavier sat by Donella's bedside and gently tried to slip into her mind only to be met with firm barriers. It had been a week since the incident in her office. Rogue had sworn up and down that she'd only touched Donella for two minutes so the prolonged coma was worrying. Jean had hooked her up to the monitors and an IV with fluids then had left her almost completely alone only returning to replace the bag or to make sure she was still clean. Xavier sighed mentally at Jeans behavior but there wasn't much he could do to force the women to get along with one another. He smoothed her hair but it just sprang back up as if it had a life of its own. "Is this how you felt?" He murmured. "Watching me lay in this bed day after day?"

"She didn't show it very much though." Rogue said from behind him. "She was very strong, very determined not to let her pain interfere."

He turned to look at Rogue, he knew she felt intensely guilty about having to touch Donella. "Have you been able to determine why she won't come out of the coma? You said the powers have faded away so she should be waking."

Rogue sat in the chair beside him. "Ah've sifted through what memories of her's I can but Ah haven't figured any of it out. She's worn out from the last six years. She suffers from depression though how she's managed to hide it so well is beyond me and there's a deep dark blackness, like a stain, in her memories that she shies away from. Ah can't even get near it."

Xavier nodded slowly. "That might be why she's still in a coma. She just doesn't want to wake."

Rogue had jut opened her mouth to say something when all the alarms in Haven went off at once. The noise was deafening. Then the alarms tapered off to one or two and a prerecorded voice spoke. "This is a yellow coded alert. Intruders have breached the primary outer perimeter. This is a yellow coded alert. Intruders have breached the primary outer perimeter."

Rogue jumped up. "Ah have to get to the conference room."

"Go I'll be along in a minute." He turned his wheel chair around and followed her out of the infirmary silently cursing it's limited speed.

When he reached the conference room everyone was waiting for him. There were thick white binders set out and a large map displayed on the far wall. "Alright. As of 2:57 this afternoon our outer perimeter has been compromised." Scott spoke calmly and motioned to the lap where a laser pointer showed the outer perimeter. It was roughly a mile away from the illustrated display of Haven.

"The outer perimeter is a series of underground sensors and hidden cameras. The sensors detected movement beyond that of the local animal population and the cameras confirmed that fifty armed men are approaching Haven in a search pattern. They don't know where we are exactly but I'm willing to bet they will know it when they see it." He flipped a page in his binder and used the laser pointer again. "This is our secondary Perimeter. Its about fifty yards from the first entrance to Haven and the easiest entrance to get to though it is very well hidden. Again underground sensors and hidden cameras. There is also a offensive system in place that can be primed to deploy but it has to be primed before they reach it or it's useless."

Logan stood. "We set up a series of Taser like weapons that discharge electrified prongs in all directions at random, a series of flamethrowers and as primitive as it sounds if we push a button a whole bunch of sharpened spikes will pop up outta the ground and skewer anyone over them."

"Anyone who either manages to survive or get past the first line of defense will be able to reach the entrance to Haven, they have to find it first. It's hidden in a bluff wall behind native shrubs and concealed with holographic technology but if they have the right equipment they can find it. Getting it open is their next problem. The security pass code is changed every week, there's a retina scan and if you fail both a pit opens up underneath and drops you into a room that will rapidly fill with gas. Quick and virtually painless. The syatem is rigged to change the pass-code if an electronic device is used to hack the code and instead of a green light indicating a correct code entry the correct code entry color is red. That should confuse the daylights out of them. The Retina scan is also electronic proof." Scott flipped to another page and Xavier was silently impressed with how much thought and planning had gone into making sure this place was safe and secure.

"We can probably let the main defenses take care of them and mop up what's left, my biggest worry is that they might have some kind of GPS tracker that will let the FoH know where we are. Eventually they'll send more people than we can fight off." Logan grumbled.

"That's when we consider evacuation." Rogue spoke up and looked at Kurt. "Kurt and Ah have been working on a joint evacuation project. The six escape tunnels end at apparently random locations, We've set up safe houses with vehicles, money, food, disguises and weapons. Everyone in Haven has a number. When we sound the evacuation alert they will go to the tunnel with their number on it. From there they will go to the alternate Haven site in Brazil. We've spent the last few months working on getting it habitable. It's not as nice as Haven is but it's secure. We also have transportation to Brazil set up. Once the evacuees get to the safe houses they will wait for a few days then use the available vehicles to travel to Southern California. Two barges will be waiting to take them across to South America. From there we travel to Brazil."

"So it's decision time folks. Do we arm the secondary perimeter defenses or hold off and hope they can't find the entrance?" Logan sat back down followed by Scott.

Xavier considered the information before him while the Committee talked amongst themselves each offering up their own opinion and their own information as to what measures they had helped put in place. After a moment he cleared his throat and they went silent. "After I woke Donella and I went through everything you've presented. She explained how thoroughly you've all planned for any eventuality. Based on that information my advise is to arm the secondary perimeter defense systems. And have any combat ready people standing by in the event they manage to breach Haven. Scott I read in your defense binder that there are certain technological defenses set up to prevent technological detection. Would they extend to GPS tracking?"

"They might but I can't be sure. The better part of half our defense plan was based on our location being a secret. Donella changed the location almost weekly. We didn't even know where it was going to be until the day she told us to fly, teleport or transport ourselves to British Columbia then we traveled for three hours to this particular section of British Columbia and started working under a mental shield." Scott said.

"It sounds as if she were worried about a precog or telepath getting the information." Xavier commented.

Scott chuckled. "She's always maintained that she's paranoid. In this case it's worked to our advantage."

"Quite. Let us hope that your technological security measures will prevent GPS tracking. Arm the defense systems and be ready for an assault. Also I would like to arrange an announcement to the citizens of Haven."

"We can broadcast over the emergency PA system." Rogue said. "When would you like to do the broadcast?"

"As soon as this meeting is done."

"Well it's done Chuck, lets get moving people. Everyone knows what they're doin'." Logan stood and strode out of the room to get the combat teams ready.

Rogue lead Xavier to the Broadcast room. "Just push this button and speak into the microphone."

He pushed the button. "Attention residents of Haven. As you know there was a yellow coded alert. I'm sure all of you are aware of what that means. Haven is facing it's first major threat. I know you must be worried but I would like to tell you there is little cause for alarm. Safety measures have been taken and it is likely we will be able to remove the threat before it reaches Haven. However I ask you all to remain vigilant and calm. There may be need to evacuate. In light of that possibility please prepare what you might need so it is ready in the event an evacuation is necessary. Prepare only what you know you will need. Material possessions are fleeting and can be attained later."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "I am proud to see what Haven has become. It fills me with joy to see how adversity has brought us together and it is my hope that we never lose this sense of community."

He turned off the microphone and looked to Rogue "I'm sure you have something that you need to do. I'll be returning to the infirmary and get out of everyone's way."

She gave him a hug before he left the room. "Yer neva in the way." She promised him and left to find Logan.

Xavier smiled and returned to the infirmary.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first clue the FoH militants had that they might be in danger was when a double row of sleek black weapons popped up out of the ground and shot pronged electrical leads at them in all directions. The jolt of electricity was cripplingly painful to those who were struck. While not actually fatal they were debilitating and caused mass confusion. Just as the tasers were running out of juice the flamethrowers popped up in random patterns and started spraying flames in all directions. They lowered an raised at random preventing their targets from being able to predict their movements. The militants scattered like birds trying to avoid being hit by the searing flames. The team leader Lt. St James could already count six dead and another four who would probably be joining them soon. He soon noticed the pattern to the attacks though. They were strung out in an uneven row about ten yards wide but beyond them there was safety. "Charge through it men!" He shouted. "It's safe on the other side. We're almost on them!"

His men charged forward leaping this way and that to avoid the flame throwers. Just as they thought they were safe though an even deadlier trap sprung in the patch of supposedly safe space just beyond the initial traps. Sharped steel stakes five feet long and spring loaded shot up out of the ground impaling anyone directly above them. Some were lucky and were only grazed by the deadly stakes. Others were impaled through their leg or foot. A handful were not so lucky and took stakes through the chest and groin. They were still horribly alive though the stakes having missed their heart and only having punctured a lung, or the stake had cut through their spine leaving them paralyzed and in agony. Those who were lucky enough to be missed watched in horror as their comrades remained transfixed.

"Put them out of their misery!" The St. James bellowed in horror. He fired a controlled burst of gunfire at the transfixed men ending their pain. The remaining militants did likewise. Once they were done he took a head count. Out of the fifty men he'd brought with him only twenty seven remained and of those twenty seven ten were injured. He glared at the trapped expanse of ground. "What kind of monsters are we dealing with here?"

No one answered him and they proceeded with caution. He was using a electronic sweeper to search for hidden entrances which would surely be electronically protected. When they had started their search in British Columbia they noticed right away that there was some kind of radio jamming keeping the team from using their radios. Originally the FoH had thought to use radar to locate Haven which was thought to be underground but when they had tried all they got was a massive white screen. Radar jamming had been employed as well. His scanner beeped and he tuned in on the source. They found the door cleverly hidden behind bushes and a holographic projector which they quickly smashed to pieces. There was a keypad and a retina scanner set next to the door and he motioned three men forward. They pulled out small computers and hooked them up to the key pad and the retina scanner. After a few minutes the keypad turned green and he relaxed slightly then the retina scanner beeped. The first indication St. James had that something was wrong was when the keypad suddenly flashed twice and the ground dropped out from under the three men in front of the door and another three men just behind them. He could hear a hissing noise and just before the trapdoor swung back up he saw his men writhing on the floor as a poisonous gas choked the life from them.

He was down to twenty one men and he was starting to feel distinctly nervous about the whole mission. "Just blow the door in!" He barked. One of the men cautiously put a block of C4 on the door and back up. They retreated to a safe distance and blew the door to pieces. "Go Go Go. Jump over the trap door!" He bellowed and the twenty one remaining team members leaped over the trapdoor and into the waiting arms and attacks of the Haven Combat Force.

After a brutal and bloody fight St. James was the only remaining member of the team he had lead all over British Columbia in search of Haven. He had managed to hold his own and was alive through sheer dint of his fighting ability and stubborn refusal to die until he'd taken at least one of his enemy with him. Logan called off the attack and eyed St. James dispassionately. "Yer one stupid crazy sonofabitch."

"Me! You're the one who booby-trapped your front yard!" St James spat then had to laugh at how stupid that sounded.

Logan shrugged. "It's war." He said simply.

St. James nodded in agreement. "I'm not going to let you capture me." He warned.

"I know."

"Then kill me. Sic your freaks on me. Tell them to use their unnatural powers on me and just get it over with."

Logan gave a bark of laughter. "Actually I was thinkin' of hand to hand with ya. You and me."

St. James thought about it for a minute. "Lets do it."

Logan launched himself at his opponent. St. James was a good fighter, he'd been trained by the best. He and Logan grappled with one another, kicking, punching using every dirty trick they knew but in the end Logan was better. Logan had once been hailed as the King of the Cage and because of his healing mutation he couldn't die. He could be hurt but he would always heal within minutes while St. James, was just a human with a mission. The last blow Logan delivered snapped St. James neck like a twig. Logan waved off the cheers. "Don't." He said shortly. "He was man doin' what he thought was right and it cost him his life. Ain't no pride in killing a man like that. Someone clean up this mess and don't forget to clean the lawn too. I don't want anyone to know where they were when they died."

He stalked down into Haven and made a beeline for his quarters. He felt old and dirty and disgusted that a good man like St. James had died for a war that should never have happened. He climbed into the shower and tried to wash himself clean of the disgust, of the anger and of the feeling that if things had happened just a little differently he might have been St. James, leading a team to their death.

The week following the attack was tense to say the least. Everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop. And the tension was getting to some of the more excitable citizens of Haven. To relieve the tension Storm and Rogue announced at the Public Forum that they were pregnant. It had the desired effect and people started to relax. For Xavier however the relaxation was short lived. Donella had still not woken from her coma and he was growing concerned that she never would. He was sitting by her bedside talking to her and trying to penetrate her mental barriers when suddenly her eyes snapped open. She sat bolt upright and Xavier caught the tail end of her thoughts just as she dissolved into a puff of air and ghosted out through the vents. 'I'm going to end Derek once and for all.'

Xavier tried to reach her with his mind but her barriers were up again. Realization dawned on him. She had meant for him to hear her as she entered the vents. He left the infirmary pushing his chair faster than it was meant to go. He stopped before the sliding doors that barred the way to Cerebro. He used the retina scanner and was in. He relaxed a little in the familiar room. Donella had simply scooped the old Cerebro out of its place in the bedrock below the mansion and had transplanted it in Haven. He settled himself before the small console and put on the head gear. With a thought he was following Donella as she merged with the winds and sought out her brother. 'Donella, what are you doing?'

He couldn't see her face but he knew there was probably a small smile on her face. 'I'm finishing this.' She whispered to him.

Just then Logan and Rogue rushed in. "Derek has a nuke. He's just gonna blow British Columbia to bits to kill us." Logan managed before Xavier hushed him.

'Donella did you know about the nuke?'

'I know everything about what he's doing now. I am the wind, I am the water, I can become them, I can hear them, I speak to them and they know all for they are in all.' She replied.

Truthfully she had heard it in the whispered winds all around her while she'd been in a coma, hiding from the world. The air from the surface world had whispered to her of the goings on of the world. Of the threats they saw and a nuke was most definitely a threat to the elements air and water. It would fill streams and rivers with debris and dirt choking the water with pollutants so it could not properly fulfill its purpose. It would clog the air with radiation rendering it poisonous to anything living.

'What are you going to do?' Xavier asked concerned.

'I hadn't figured that out quite yet. I'm just going to stop him.' He could feel the wind against his skin as she flew with the speed of a hurricane wind.

Logan and Rogue glanced at each other then back at Xavier. He took the helmet off and looked at them. "Where is she going?" He asked.

"She's going to Montana. The Montana Militia got their hands on a nuke but couldn't figure out who to bomb first so they sold it to the highest bidder. The FoH had the winning bid." Logan replied.

"How fast can we get there?" Xavier asked.

Logan and Rogue drooped just a bit. "Three or four days. We don't have a jet anymore and we haven't got the space or resources for a hanger." Logan replied.

Xavier wanted to swear, his blood boiled for a moment before is normally calm nature reasserted itself. "Take your team to Montana Logan. You may be needed there. Use whatever means you must."

Logan sprinted out of Cerebro leaving Rogue with Xavier who turned back to the console and reached out for Donella. 'Why didn't you just tell me?' He questioned.

'No one would have been able to make it in time to stop the nuke. I can go anywhere faster than anyone else. I become the wind and there is no where I cannot go.'

Xavier wanted to pound his head into the wall. 'Is this why you remained in a coma?'

He felt her hesitation. 'No. I remained in a coma because I was hiding from the world for a while.' She paused for a long moment before continuing. 'I'm not as good as I seem Charles. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. Done a lot of things I'm not proud of. I've been a despicable monster. I killed my brothers fiance and for that I bear his hatred willingly. And I killed my husband and I hate myself more than my brother could.'

Xavier felt his mind reel. She had told him her husband Julien died of cancer. She'd shared fond memories and told hilarious stories of their life together. 'You killed him? I though Cancer killed him.'

'Cancer started the job. He wasted away, eaten from the inside out. No treatment helped and nothing could ease the pain. In the end he begged for the pain to end. I couldn't bear to see him in so much pain. The last time he begged for me to take the pain away I did. I kissed him one last time and sucked the air from his lungs.' He could hear the raw pain, the guilt and the tears in her voice and knew that somewhere between British Columbia and Montana it was raining though there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

'Logan brought up something that made you remember and you retreated to your mind.' He finished.

'Yes. But I'll be fine once this is ended. You don't need to worry Charles. I'll be back. I can only hope you still love me after what I've admitted.'

Xavier smiled faintly. 'Nothing could make me stop.' He assured her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Donella arrived at the compound in Montana a mere twenty minutes after she'd left Haven. Her conversation with Xavier had made her feel somewhat better but it still didn't ease the guilt she felt. She shoved it aside and concentrated on the matter at hand, locating her Brother.

She ghosted through the compound and it didn't take her very long at all to find him. He was standing next to the launch doors a remote in his hand. "I can feel you sister. Why don't you show yourself."

She slowly became corporeal though carefully keeping herself just a little less than solid, just in case someone shot at her. She really had no intention of dieing here. "I'm not surprised Derek. I figured you were trying to get a hold of me, your voice carried so loudly on the wind."

"It's time for you to die Donella. Time for you to atone for your sins." Derek smirked at her and waggled the remote. "Don't even try to kill me either. This is a dead mans switch. I die and the Nuke is launched. We have a vague idea of where your 'Haven' is so we've programed the nuke to drop at that site."

Donella glowered at him. "So what is it you want Derek? Why inform me of the Nuke? Why not just fire it? I know you will anyway."

"I want to kill you." He replied calmly. "I want to end your life myself then I will end the lives of those scuttling crawling creeping creatures."

Donella laughed. "You do love to hear the sound of your own voice don't you?"

He snarled at her and she just smirked. She floated towards him. "You're a petty, jealous, vindictive little man Derek. You have been since I was born. This my not be a movie but my kind will win. Because eventually there will be more of us than of you. She was within a few feet of him now. He held the remote up like a shield and she swatted it from his hand. The launch doors rumbled open and he laughed. "You've condemned your own kind!"

She smiled and there was an evil slant to it as she surged forward and engulfed him. He could feel the tornado force winds tearing at his clothing, hair and skin. Tiny pellets of water harder than a bullet seared his skin piercing his body. She tore him apart then left the whole bloody mess that had once been her brother laying on the floor. The Nuke suddenly roared up into the sky and Donella gave chase. She struggled to keep up with it as it climbed into the sky then turned and headed North.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wolverine, Cyclops, Angel and Kurt had managed to cross a days worth for ground in less than an hour thanks in part to Kurts teleporting and a new invention courtesy of Hank. The felt more than saw Donella passing over them and looked up to see a missile shooting towards Haven. They watched from the ground as a Tornado formed around the missile. The width and breadth of the Tornado was massive. Bigger than any on record though it never touched the ground. It formed a huge funnel around the missile which tried to follow it's programing but kept being spun in every direction. The tornado's force grew so strong that the X-Men on the ground could feel it tugging at them trying to drag them up and into itself. Then suddenly the Tornado was dissipating and they could no longer see the missile. A bright flash pierced their eyes blinding them momentarily, all but Cyclops who's visor shielded his eyes from the terrible light. He saw the missile detonate outside Earths atmosphere.

As their eyesight returned they each saw the figure falling like a stone from the sky. Angel sprang into the air and caught her carrying her unconscious form gently back to earth. She was a mess. He hair was tangled and matted, her face paler than normal and she looked half dead. "We'd better get back to Haven." Logan grumbled gruffly taking her from Angel.

"Why are you here?"

"What?" Donella asked sitting up looking around at the room with white painted walls and mass produced art.

The walls of a hospital. "Why are you here?" The voice asked again and she looked down at the face of her late husband laying the the hospital bed.

"Because you're sick. And I said I'd never leave no matter what." She was confused.

"I'm not here anymore." He replied somewhat cryptically.

"What do you mean? You're right in front of me. Is the pain making you hallucinate now?" She reached out and brushed her hair through his curly hair.

It was cold to the touch and blinking she looked down to see him in a coffin. "Why are you here?"

"No. No this isn't...I..." She stammered.

"Why are you here?"

She finally understood what he was asking. She turned her back on the funeral home and saw him behind her, standing next to an empty wheelchair. "Because I can't live with it anymore."

"I asked."

"That doesn't make it right!" She said sharply. "It doesn't make it ok."

"No it doesn't. I shouldn't have asked you to." He looked down at the chair. "He wants you back."

"He doesn't know me. He doesn't know what I've done, how badly I've screwed up."

"He doesn't care. You should move on. Punishing yourself isn't the answer."

"And what if he gets sick and asks? I can't do that again."

"He never would. He's stronger than I was. I was a weak man who couldn't bear the burden. I'm sorry I asked you to. You never could tell me no." Julien gave her a sad smile his green eyes wiser in death than they had been in life.

"I'm scared." She finally blurted.

"Good. It's ok to be afraid. Its healthy. He'll help you just like you help him. Don't punish yourself any longer."

Julien started to fade out. "Wait! Wait please don't go. Not yet." She tried to grab him but he was as insubstantial as memory. There but not. "I have to go. This is his chapter in your book. Enjoy it. I'll be here when the book ends."

She gave a watery smile. "Bookworm." She teased fondly.

"Philistine." He teased back and left her alone with the chair.

She sank to her knees before the chair. "I'm afraid." She whispered laying her head in the chair where his lap would have been.

"It's ok to be afraid. But you don't have to be alone." Charles whispered stroking her hair.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A baby wailed shrilly in the infirmary. "It's a boy!" Donella crowed looking down at Rogue who lay exhausted on the bed.

She took the baby from Jean and placed him in Rogues arms and went to find Logan. She found him pacing the hall his fists clenched. "You have a son." She said smiling broadly.

He turned to smile back at her. She was more her old self since she'd woken in Xavier's arms just after diverting a nuke. She seemed to be at peace with herself though she was still as full of beans as ever. "I'd wait until they can clear the blood first. You know how you get." She chided.

He snorted but lingered. "So How goes the expansion?" He asked having been mostly too busy to really keep up with the new plans.

"We're making progress. Adding a 'wing' is a little more difficult than the original part of Haven. We have to clear away dirt and rock while still making sure the air filtration system doesn't overload and kill everyone." She grinned. True to her previous statement once Storm and Rogue announced that they were pregnant every couple in Haven started wanting babies. The pregnancy count was up over fifty now.

Logan nodded but she could tell his mind wasn't really there. "I think you can go in now." She said gently and he took off at a jog.

She followed him and watched him settle next to his wife gently touching their new son who they had named Donovan. She smiled at the touching scene and looked over at Storm who was still recovering from giving birth to her daughter who she and Hank had named Ivy. She heard the faint whir of Charles chair and felt his hand on her hip. "Soon we'll be over run with them." He said softly.

She smiled down at him. "Would you have it any other way? Haven is thriving. Our underground Haven is becoming an underground city. What city doesn't have children?"

He lifted her hand and kissed it gently. "A very poor one indeed." He murmured then lifted her shirt and kissed the swell of her stomach.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~~ Haven grew to be the foremost Mutant Haven in the whole of The North American Continent. During it's final years it boasted a population of seventeen thousand mutants with fully one thousand humans coming to live with them as well. When the number of mutants outstripped the number of 'pure' humans the Haven Planning Committee set forth on their final goal. They removed the dome of Haven and showed themselves to a changed world. A world in which 'pure' humans were the minority. A new kind of politics was born into a new world. Haven remains as ever a refuge from the storm. It's pathways and buildings holding out the promise of a better future built through understanding and hard work. The heroes of Haven stand immortalized in stone for all to see though no Statues are so loves as those of the X-Men and their leaders. Charles Xavier and his wife Donella.~~ Passage taken from A History of Mutant Kind Available for sale at The Haven Museum of Mutant History.