Title: Missing 1/? Birthday Surprise
Author: sharonmjl47
Rating: NC-17
Category: Movieverse.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and no one. Sad, isn’t it!
Feedback: Please, bad or good. If no one tells me it’s bad, I won’t know!
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She ran down the stairs the instant she heard the doorbell ring, her dark black hair waving around her. Her good physical shape helping her rush the stairs two at a time. She tucked her hair behind her ears once she had the door open.
“Morning, Miss. Joint delivery for Louise and Liam D’Ancanto?”
“I’m Louise D’Ancanto.” The delivery man smiled at her, taken in by her intense hazel eyes.
“Sign here, please.” She signed and passed his clipboard back to him. Then he handed her a heavy, rectangular-shaped cardboard box with a small letter taped to the front. “Thanks, have a nice day.”
She said an absentminded thanks as she closed the door. “LIAM! WE GOT ANOTHER PRESENT!”
She jostled the parcel in her arms as she walked into the living room and set it down on the coffee table. Liam came in, followed by her aunt and uncle. Liam was roughly the same height as she was give or take an inch, 5ft 8in. His hair was black like hers, but he liked to keep it cut short. He was very broad-shouldered and muscular and had the exact same set of piercingly clear hazel eyes
“What is it?”
“I don’t know, do I? I just got it through the door. Delivery guy said it was a joint delivery for you and me.”
“Come on then, sis. Break it open.”
“There’s a letter on the top. Better read that first.” Liam sat next to her on one plush couch, while her aunt and uncle sat on the other, looking on with growing curiosity. She ripped open the letter and began to read.
"Dear Miss Louise and Mr Liam D’Ancanto.
Please find attached with this letter a box of personal effects belonging to your mother, Ms. Marie Anne D’Ancanto.
Your late mother left instructions with us that this box be kept in our office safe and delivered to you both on the day of your eighteenth birthday.”
She looked around at the shocked faces with her before she carried on.
“Within the box is a video tape marked with an ‘X’. It was her extreme wish that this video be watched before opening the suitcase (the key to which you will find in this envelope).
If there is anything I can assist you with in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards
Philip Turner
Attorney at Law
Smith, Wright and Partners.”
She passed the letter to her aunt’s outstretched hand and tipped up the envelope. A small silver key fell out.
Louise exchanged looks with Liam, and they both dove to open the box. Inside was a small metal silver suitcase and a video box marked with an ‘X’.
Liam grabbed the video and walked over to the tv. “Liam, Louise, wait. Your mother never told us that she had done this. I don’t know if you should watch it. Maybe your uncle and I should watch it first.”
“Aunt Carla, with all due respect, if Mom hadn’t wanted us to see this, she wouldn’t have sent it.”
“But there are things, things, that we’ve never told the two of you. Marie never left us any instructions on whether or not we should tell you these things so we never have. She told us that you were to stay in school, take self-defence classes and stay safe. That - that was it. What if this tape…” Her husband put his hand gently on her arm.
“Sit down, honey. Let them watch. Marie knew what she was doing. We always trusted her judgement before, I think we should now.” She nodded as Liam hit play and sat back down on the couch, instantly holding his twin sister’s hand.
The first image was of a large double bed in a small room. They recognised it as one of the bedrooms upstairs. Marie walked out from behind the camera and sat on the end of the bed. She had on jeans and a hooded sport top, bare feet, bare hands and her tags around her neck.
She waved and smiled. “Hi. Um, ok, how to start? Be honest. Ok, there are two ways that you two could be watching this tape. One is that I’m sitting with you laughing and fending off bad jokes about the state of my hair or listening to a million ‘What are you wearing?’. Or the other option is – that - is that I’m not with you guys anymore.” She sighed. “Personally, it’s the more likely. I’m sorry. I really, really am. I’m going to tell you everything I can so that you understand, so that you know the only reason I left you, the only reason I died, was to save you, to save your future. It’s April 4th, your seventh birthday, but you’re watching this eleven years from now. Huh, that’s weird. You’re in bed, tired out. I’ve read you a story each, tucked you in, kissed you both, and told you I love you.”
She sighed again. “You see, kids, Mommy has a past and not all of it is as straightforward as, ‘Hi my name’s Marie, and I’m from ‘Ole Miss.’ I ran away from home because of my mutation, you knew that. I lived at a school in New York and got a good education, you knew that. Whatchya don’t know is that that school was a school for mutants, and it was the secret base of a mutant crime-fighting organisation called the X-Men…”
Liam hit the pause button. “Wait. Mom was an X-Men?” He glared at his aunt.
“Eleven years ago, the X-Men were a secret, rather than the active and well known group they are now. Mutants were feared and hated, not like today. I know there’s the FoH, but it’s not like it was. Mutants are just normal people now. You both went to a normal high school, with humans and mutants. When your mother was an X-Men, the government was trying to introduce a compulsory registration program. As far as they were concerned, mutants were a disease that needed to be wiped out.”
Liam still gaped at his aunt. “But mom!” Louise giggled at him.
“Come on, Liam. Let’s just watch the rest of the tape, shall we?” She took the remote out of his hand and pressed play.
“…which I was a part of once. God, there are so many things I want to tell you. In an hour, I’m meeting an old friend, and we’re setting out to try and foil a government plot to kill every single mutant on the planet with a biological virus called ‘Clemency’. My friend’s name is Remy LeBeau, a.k.a. Gambit. He’s an X-Men, or at least, he was. He fell in love with this woman from New Orleans and left Xavier’s years ago. Personally, she struck me as a bit of a gold digger and was after his family’s money, but hey, would he listen? No.” She shook her head. “Anyway. He found me about a month ago and told me what he and some of his crew had found. ‘Clemency’ is a biological virus that can target a certain genetic group. For example, let’s say you have an area that’s filled with roughly a hundred people. If someone wanted to wipe out every single person in that group with brown eyes and leave the others safe and well, you would program the virus to attack those with that specific marker gene. It’s a skin-contact virus, so it can only spread by skin-to-skin contact. Humans can carry it on their skin and spread it, but it has no effect on them. It’s aggressive with no outward signs. You feel like you have the flu, and then drop dead 12 hours after contact. It can be, let’s say, ‘tinkered’ with to single out a range of different genetic markers, the mutant gene being one of them.”
She blew out a breath and ran her hands through her hair. “The lab where this has been developed is in DC, and they’re planning on releasing it tomorrow at lunchtime. As far as we can tell, the president has no idea what’s going on and hasn’t sanctioned this. It’s like Stryker all over again! In a wide open space, like a suicide bomber, they’re sending an infected person into a crowd of lunchtime shoppers to ‘touch’ as many people as possible. Remy has a scientist friend who estimates that within an hour the possibility for infection and spread is ridiculously scary. When we went over this a few days ago, all I could think was how long would it be before it spread to the two of you. Before this got to our little neighbourhood or someone you go to school with.”
She looked away from the camera and wiped her eyes, then looked back at the camera with determination on her face. “We’re raiding the lab, destroying the virus and all the research so no one else can try this. As for the guy who’s developed it, Remy wants to dump him, bound and gagged, on the White House lawn, but we’ll see. So you see, I have to go and do this. And, you know, even if someone said to me right now, you’re not going to come back, and you’re never g… going to see your children again, I would still have to do this. I agreed with Clara, that if I didn’t come back she was to tell you it was a car accident. Lou, Liam, I am so sorry that I’ve missed so much, but I wanted the two of you to have a future. I didn’t want to watch you die. I couldn’t. You’re probably angry with me for leaving you, and I don’t blame you. I’d be angry, too, but I don’t mind, just as long as you understand why I’m doing this.” She chuckled. “Ok, that’s the hard stuff over with. Other stuff to tell you. Clara and Fred, they’re… not technically your aunt and uncle, but they may as well be. They’re the best friends I could have ever wished for when I left New York and came back to Crestwood, Meridian. Xavier’s, the School for the Gifted…” She fiddled with the white streak in her hair. “I kept in touch with a couple of them - the Professor, Scott and Jubes…”
Liam paused the video again. “She can’t be talking about THE Professor Charles Xavier and Scott Summers. She can’t? Can she?”
“Liam, just watch the damn tape!” Louise took the remote and played it.
“…but the others, I didn’t really want to stay in touch, too many risks. I mean they’re my friends, you know? I’m doing this for them as well, but the risks of being in contact with known mutants is just to dangerous and the schools ‘image’ is way too public. They might not say it, but everyone knows it’s a school full of mutants. If you have mutations I hope that you can control them and you enjoy them, but be careful. I’d love to know what they are, how special you guys are. I just hope that you don’t have to hide them like I did, I really hope the world is a better place.” She smiled. “Xavier is right: they are a gift. I hope you’re both happy, and God, I hope you’re safe.” She looked at her watch. “Right, time’s a tickin’. Last subject. Oh fuck! Sorry, you shouldn’t swear. Swearing is bad. So is smoking. Don’t ever smoke. Or sex. Sex is very, very bad! Ok, here goes nothing, your father.”
She blew out another long breath. “I expect that you’ve badgered Clara with questions. Truth is she doesn’t know anything about him because I never told her anything. To be honest I shouldn’t have gone off without telling her anything because I’ve left you no way of finding him and that… that simply isn’t fair. He’s - he’s a good man, on the whole. Has a few bad points, but then who doesn’t? You’ve never seen him, and that’s my fault. We, I mean, I, no… uh crap! We’d been together for nearly three years, living in the same room, sharing our lives. I love, I mean ‘loved’ him so much, and he loved me. But what you have to understand about him is before me, he’d always been a bit of loner. Kept himself to himself, never gave his heart away so he didn’t get hurt. Then with me, we got kinda heavy, and I asked him to marry me. What can I say? Impulsive, I know, but I got fed up with waiting for him to do it so…. I expected him to say yes, sweep me off my feet and yell to sky, but instead I got an argument. He said that he couldn’t do it, couldn’t commit like that. What if we got married, and I decided that he really was no good for me and left? What if I didn’t love him anymore? What if I got hurt and died? He said he couldn’t cope, that it was all too much, and he was better off on his own. He said that way there was less chance of him fucking something up! I can understand him being a little scared of commitment, but, idiot! He stormed out, went and got drunk.”
They watched as she fiddled with her gloves. “Unfortunately I found him at three o’clock in the morning in bed with another woman. I walked into her room to see if she hadn’t anything to help me sleep, and there he was, flat on his back with her on top in nothing but her undies. She was such a bitch about it as well, telling me it was only a matter of time before she stole him from me anyway, and all he did was slur and plead that it wasn’t what I thought. Yeah right! So I told him to Foxtrot Oscar and left.
“For the first couple of weeks, he called my cell about thirty times a day, but after I made it perfectly clear that I wanted nothing to do with him ever again and he needed to just leave me alone, he stopped calling. I’m not surprised. I said some awful things to him, things that I didn’t really mean and had no right to say, I shouldn’t have said them. I said some really cruel things. A month later, I found out I was pregnant. I met Clara and Fred around the same time, we bought the house together and they helped me with the pregnancy. I don’t know why I never told him about you. Bitterness, or the fact that seeing him with you would have made me forgive him. Jubes says that he still travels around a bit, but he still teaches though, which is good.” She wiped her eyes again. “He hurt me, and I hurt him, and in turn, I’ve hurt the two of you, because I kept away a man that, to be honest, would have been a fucking brilliant father and I am so, *so* sorry for that. I took him away from you because I was selfish and you didn’t deserve that, neither did he.
You have to understand, it wasn’t just ‘cause of my stupid wounded pride. A lot of humans hate us. The government hates us. They especially hate your father, because to them he’s more of a threat than the rest of us put together. If the word found out what they did to him, what they put him through, the pain, suffering, the loss. He’d be a symbol to whole world of just what the government is capable of doing to a person simply because they can. Trouble follows him. He can’t help it, and he doesn’t mean for it to happen, but it’s just the way it is. That kind of life isn’t safe for you. I hope you understand that, and I hope he does too. I did this because I was scared for my children. Jesus, I’m still scared for you.
I’d like you to go to Xavier’s. In the case, you’ll find an address and directions. Tell him who you are. He can help you with your mutations if you have any problems. He can also introduce you to your father. Get to know him. You deserve to and, fuck, so does he. He’ll be able to tell you about how we met, how he saved my life. He’s the only one who truly knows me, even though I haven’t seen him for seven years. But don’t be put off. He’ll be angry at first, not with you, with me, and he has every right to be.” She got up and knelt in front of the camera close to the lens. “No matter what, give him a chance, please, for me. Show Xavier this tape. He needs to know about Clemency, make sure we did everything right tonight, and it really is gone. Trust him. If no one else, trust him and Jubes. And trust Logan, trust your father. He is a good man, and… I still love him, even though he’s a jerk.” She got a little teary-eyed, but held it back. “I love you both so much. I’m sorry I did this, sorry that I kept him from you and you from him, but I did what seemed right at the time. I wanted to hide, be normal, be safe, keep you two safe, and at the time with the government the way it is, Xavier’s wasn’t safe for you. God, the government thinks that the X-Men are terrorists.
Be safe, and take care of each other. Do what you want to do, go where your heart takes you, listen to your gut, {chuckle} be happy, have adventures, *live life*. I love you, happy birthday.” She got up walked around the back of the camera and turned it off.
They all sat in stunned silence, watching a crackling screen. Louise began to cry, and Liam hugged her to him, his hazel eyes shining with tears he was determined he wouldn’t shed.
Fred held Clara’s hand and stood up. He shooed Clara out of the room and turned to the twins before he spoke. “Whatever you decide we’ll always be here for you.” They both looked up and nodded.
Louise wiped her face and pointed at the silver case. “Do you want to open it?”
“Do you?
“Hell yeah.”
“Then let’s do it.” He picked up the silver key and opened the case. It smelled a little musty, but everything inside was in perfect condition.
The first things on the top were photographs. Mostly of Marie with Kitty and Jubilee. She had written on the back who everyone was. There was one with the entire X-Men team. Liam pointed out the Professor and Scott Summers, because he had seen them on the news. Louise rattled off the names on the back of the photo, and they matched them with faces. “That’s Jubilee. Mom said to trust her.”
“Look at this one.” She handed a rectangular photo to Liam. It was a sunny day outside, she was being held from behind by a man, and he was tickling her and laughing at her. Her hair fell all over her face. Liam studied to picture. The man was tall, huge in fact, dark unruly hair and piercing hazel eyes that were happily matching the smile on his lips. He turned it over. ‘Me and Logan.’ “That’s him isn’t it? That’s our father. I mean, look at his eyes. They’re *our* eyes Liam!”
“Yeah, he looks like the kind of guy that would cheat on his girlfriend!”
“Liam, we have to give him a chance. For mom.”
“I know.” He said it quietly. “She kept him from us and that’s… crap, but we don’t know him, he could be a real bastard. ”
They continued to root through the case, finding odd bits and bobs – a letter from Jubilee and Scott. By the sounds of things, no one knew about the twins. They found a cap with an ‘X’ on it, Marie’s spare leather uniform, and a Xavier School for the Gifted sweatshirt. They found her graduation diploma and several art and photography certificates, along with her teaching certificate; she had qualified as a teacher in photography and creative animation. They found the address for Xavier marked on a map, but they didn’t need it. Everyone in the world knew where it was. There were newspaper clippings and magazine articles on the mutant ‘problem’.
The last thing that was taken out was a small jewellery box. Louise opened it and pulled out the old metal chain from inside. She held it up. They were the metal dog tags that her mother had worn everyday she had even seen her, but she had never had a chance to look at it closely. They glinted in the light. She frowned. “What kind of a name is Wolverine?”
*********END OF PART ONE
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Huge hugs and kisses to Gamma. She has been working so hard, even with a broken wrist. Thanks honey, your a star!